Lil' Billies play bluegrass and American folk. They all started playing under music teacher John Fuller at Menlo Park’s Peninsula School, one of California's oldest progressive schools.

Website

john Fuller

I was born and raised in and around San Jose, California. I was a serious competitve swimmer as a teenager, but that transformed into focusing my time on music before the end of high school. My music lessons were typical and formal, but when I started St. John's College in New Mexico, I was exposed to a range of improvised American music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Bluegrass. I never looked back after my first jams there. Classical Guitar became a thing of the past and I began studying Bluegrass mandolin style soon thereafter. I worked numerous part time jobs to supplement my life as a professional musician and sometime teacher. After 15 years of music festivals and nightclubs, I began working as a teacher and director of musical projects for 4th-8th graders at The Penninsula School in Menlo Park. 16 years later what started as a partime endeavor became a consuming fulltime passion. My life's work has become giving children an oppurtunnity to try playing the music they chose in bands they form themselves. This gives me a chance to enable many children in their musical quests and social development and to nurture their self image. I still enjoy playing some Bluegrass gigs and festivals as well as following the creative musical output of many of my old students. It is quite gratifying to jam and perform with my alums when oppurtunnities arise.