Bios

Allan Fishell (Purcussion)

Allan started playing snare drum in the 3rd grade, and started working gigs in 1968, playing in a horn band playing James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone covers. Allan worked with several groups such as Goodtime Rebellion and Sky, more top 40-style horn bands, during the 1970-73 River Quay era.

Allan played in bands based from Kansas City and Key West in the early 1970's, touring across North America. Moving to New York in 1976, Allan joined The Randy Lees Band, who signed with Columbia Records. Through 1978, the band played anything from, blues, country, soul and rock. IN 1980, Allan joined a country rock band named "Desperate Men". Randy Lees was also with this band, who we had shared bills with over the years.  In 1982 Allan moved back to Kansas City, and  met Billy Dye.

In 1983, Allan helped form the group "Los Bozos", who won the 1984 Marlboro Country Music Contest in Kansas City. They opened for Ricky Skaggs, Randy Milsap, George Straight and Merle Haggard, and even played in Venezuela. They released a single in 1985,"Daddy's Ride", which reached number 87 on the cashbox hot 100. In 1987 Allan joined "Freelance", a top 40 group which played Kansas City and traveled most of the Midwest. In 1990, Allan  joined The Dan Doran Band. In 1994 he moved to Nashville, working at "Dixie Dogg Studios", a songwriter's demo studio. In 1995, he joined the Dangerfield Mcnally Band. Since 2000, he has played with Dan Bliss & Bluetonium, The Midtown Quartet, and the supergroup "John Paul's Flying Circus" and the ever-popular, "Big Three".

Bill Dye (guitar, slide guitar, steel guitar)

Bill is a veteran musician who has lived in Kansas City since 1982. Originally from Lincoln, Nebraska, he has played throughout the midwest, performing blues, country and western, rhythm and blues, rock 'roll, and jazz. He was based in Austin, Texas for a number of years, touring throughout the southwest.

He played with legendary bluesman Luther Allison in 1979 and 1980, traveling throughout the U.S and Europe, and appears on Luther's 1980 album "Time", recorded in Paris. After stints in Nashville and central Illinois, Bill moved to Kansas City. Since then, he has played with Tom Bark, the Bon Ton Soul Accordian Band, BCR, Dan Doran, Ida McBeth, Danny Cox, and other Kansas city artists. He appears on recordings by many of the above as well. He has acccompanied such artists as Charlie Musselwhite, Claude "Fiddler" Williams, Jimmy Witherspoon, Magic Slim, Champion Jack Dupree, and Robert Lockwood, to name a few. In 1990 Bill released his solo album "Buffle Off To Shuffalo", a collection of originals in which he played all instruments. The album received a very favorable writeup in the November 1991 issue of Guitar Player magazine. For most of a decade, Bill played with the great blues singer and harmonica player Little Hatch, both in a band setting and as a duo. He appears on two of Hatch's albums-- "Well, Allright!", a live band recording, and "Going Home", an intimate acoustic duo session. In addition to his versatile guitar stylings, Bill has been with John Paul since 1998.

Len Bacoski (bass)

Len's musical career started in 1960 when his favorite Aunt gave him her 1951 P-Bass and encouraged him to take lessons. Len studied with Philadelphia'a legendary Russell Faith and by early 1963, had started working around Philly with much older musicians, some of which went on the play with Jack McDuff, Groove Holmes, Mike Stern, Spyro Gyra and Natalie Cole. Len left Philly in 1984 to settle in Missouri where his day job made it impossible for him to work professionally until 1998. Since then, Len has worked with Buck Brown, Richard Townsend, Big Slim, and filled-in with the Cobalt Project, Big Woody, and the late Lester King. Len broke into the KC Blues scene by going to John Paul's jam at BB's and was elated at being asked to go from jammer to band member. Len began fill-in work with John Paul in 2001 and was provided with the opportunity to take the "bass chair"on a permanent basis in January 2005. Len's "In-the-pocket" basic style is hand in glove with Allan Fishell's percussion providing the bottom groundwork for the Flying Circus sound. In his spare time, Len also provides the bottom for the Hatchlings, Alter Ego, and City Limit Band.