the Lost Howlin' Coyotes

Louis (pronounced Louie) Blackwell has been enthralled by all kinds of music as long as he can remember.  He first played guitar while a teenager in El Paso, Texas and continued intermittently while in the US Navy and graduate school in Boulder Colorado.  After settling in the northern Virginia area, he fell in love with playing Bluegrass about 1982 and faithfully attended jams at the Capitol Area Bluegrass and Old Time Music Association for 15 years.  He first branched out to standup bass, then mandolin, but one morning in 1991 he awakened with a passion he still feels to play the fiddle.  Today he pursues Bluegrass, Celtic, and Old Time styles of this remarkable instrument.  For nine years, until 1997 when he and wife Shirley moved to Los Lunas, he played mostly bass and some fiddle in a working Bluegrass band in the Washington D C area. 

 

He primarily plays fiddle in the musical mix, with occasional mandolin, bass and harmony singing. 

Growing up in Lubbock, Texas, Gordon West began his musical journey playing drums with his dad’s Country and Western band until age 18.  At some point Gordon taught himself the guitar but was primarily focused on a cappella singing.  Many years and miles later (2006) Gordon was encouraged by his wife to participate in a local JAM composed of Country and Old Tyme pickers near their home in central New Mexico.  Participation in the group became a favorite pastime for Gordon and as fate would have it; his desire for musical performance was restored.

A chanced meeting with Tony introduced Gordon to a genre of music he was not familiar with, “bluegrass”.  

 

Gordon plays guitar and sings lead and harmony vocals in the band and also functions as the bands unofficial good will ambassador.  Tony says; "Gordon is one of those rare individuals who “never met a stranger”".

Randy Dupuy started in music at 14 years old playing a cheap guitar in his family home in Bosque Farms, NM.  For several years he was mostly self taught then began music lessons at about age 18.  A few years later he put his guitar aside for several years when his children were young and growing up playing occasionally for relaxation and stress relief.  In 2005, Randy visited a small banjo shop near his present home in Cedar Crest, NM, where he walked out with his first starter banjo.  He was hooked and hasn't stopped playing it since, rarely ever playing his guitar.  Randy's association with Tony and Gordon started during a jam after watching performers at the 2008 Santa Fe Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival.  They asked Randy to join the Lost Howlin' Coyotes the next day.  

 

Randy now plays banjo, sings lead and harmony vocals and plays guitar on occasion with the band.