Shana Stack Band / Members
Gene Kossakoski
BassistGene is new to the group with many years of experience traveling all over the United States with various musicians. He has worked in LA for many years, and has experience as a session player.
Peter Henault
GuitaristPeter was born into a musical family. His dad was a well-known jazz musician who played all over northern Vermont and Canada and his mother sings. It was only natural that Peter followed in their footsteps. Peter has been playing guitar for as long as he can remember and played his first gig at the age of 14. He had to borrow his friend’s older brother’s ID so he could play in clubs. The band Tank was his first semi-pro band and it was made up of childhood friends. The band played all over New England and New York for six years. Tank still gets together to play benefits in the St. Johnsbury area. Peter’s played all over New England and Canada with other bands: Tank, Maximum Bob, Little Memphis, Zee, and Frydaddy to name a few. He’s also shared the stage with bands such as Orleans, Black Oak Arkansas, and the Fools. Peter also enjoys recording and has recorded with punk rocker G. G. Allin, Pete Merrigan, Tank, as well as others. Peter has been playing guitar for over 40 years. He’s a self-taught musician who has been influenced by many different players including Ronnie Montrose, Alan Holdsworth, Brent Mason and many others. In addition to playing the guitar, he enjoys building and repairing the instrument as well.
Kurt Ekstrom
DrummerKurt started playing drums at the age of 11 and has been influenced by artists from The Doors and Van Halen to Buddy Rich and Dave Brubeck with everything in between! Since the age of 20, he has played at numerous locations around the New England area. In his last band the October Sons, he had the pleasure of opening for such acts as Rick Derringer, John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band as well as an all star band consisting of former members of Boston, Steely Dan, Extreme and others. Playing all styles from rock and blues to jazz has given Kurt a broad vocabulary of musical styles which has afforded him the opportunity to contribute to multiple CDs with varied artists. Kurt is a collector of Ludwig drums from the 30’s to present. Kurt also endorses Kelly Shu internal bass drum microphone systems and Rich Sticks.
Ed Leavitt
Guitarist VocalistEd Leavitt is a singer/songwriter originally born and raised in VT, currently living in southern NH. Ed has shared the same venue with a number of top country artists: Tracy Byrd, Mark Wills, Billy Arnold, George Jones, Chuck Wicks, Reba McEntire, Sugarland, Travis Tritt, Rascal Flatts, the Band Perry, Little Big Town, Toby Keith, Craig Morgan and Aaron Parker. He has worked with Nashville producer, Bruce Allen. Ed-co-wrote (along with Pat Kelley), More Than Just a Farm; demo engineered in Nashville by Galen Breen, sung by rising country star, Craig Campbell. More Than Just a Farm was also, recorded by popular Indie artist Doug Briney on his album, It's All Country. You can listen to some of Ed's work by visiting his songwriting page at http://www.ourstage.com/profile/edleavitt. Ed has songs published by Buried Treasure Music in Nashville. Ed's song, Let It Go, is featured in the Indie movie, "Compliance" that was released in spring 2012 at the Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Magnolia Pictures for national release. Ed is a member of NSAI (Nashville Songwriter's Association International) and has his own publishing company, (Kenzy Linn Productions) through ASCAP.
Shana Stack
Multi-National Award winning Shana Stack has performed throughout the East Coast and into Canada and has opened for the likes of Reba McEntire, Sugarland, Rascal Flatts, The Band Perry, Little Big Town and Travis Tritt (Nascar Cup pre-race stage at the NH Motor Speedway start/finish line). Most recently she and the band had the honor of performing on the Main Stage at Bank of NH Pavilion opening for legend Toby Keith. They also had a blast performing on the main stage opening for Craig Morgan at his Stadium show. Shana and the band have released 4 original CD's and are currently working on their 5th! Their songs are getting airplay not only on US radio, but also over in Europe. Shana has performed on national television while having the honor of singing both the Canadian National Anthem as well as our National Anthem before Nascar and Indy races at NHMS.
