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PIKE CREEK plays the best in traditional, original and modern bluegrass music. The WAMI Award winning band features intricate instrumentals, tight vocal harmonies, and arrangements in overdrive. From the WI State Fair to Racine's Harborfest to Door County to numerous WI bluegrass festivals, Pike Creek has performed throughout Wisconsin for over 27 years. The band appears regularly at  Morton's in Cedarburg. Enjoy the mix of traditional, newgrass and original bluegrass music!


Band Members:   Mark Vitkus - Mike Brey - Susan Jeske Dermody - Scott DeKok - Jim Price - Chad Whitty
Jim, and Chad have become active members of Pike Creek. We appreciate their musicianship and ability to add a new dimension to the mix. Thanks Guys!
 
Mark Vitkus Mark Vitkus
 Mandolin, Guitar

Music has always been an important part of my life. I started out banging on a drum, then picked up the guitar and actually owned a Sears Silvertone electric with tube amp that I wish I still had.  My nephew's blew it up. (But had fun doing so)  After moving to Milw. in the 70's it became apparent that acoustic music was the direction I was heading.  For my birthday one year my friends chipped in and bought me a mandolin.  Dutch picked up the banjo and Mike (Whitedog) Funk wailed on the harp. With Mike Brey on guitar Pike Creek was born.  Having the opportunity to share music and fun with Mike and Dutch for so many years has been a blessing. Susan (Chi, Chi) brought us a new flavor that moves away from tradition a bit and I believe that's a good thing.  She knows how I feel. :-) .  Thanks mates for making this so much fun. Lets continue!

 
 

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Jim Price

 Mandolin, Guitar


 
A Milwaukee native, JP has developed enough instrument chops to become one of the area's most truncated sidemen.  Frequently called on by groups missing a "chopstick" JP perilously supplies mandolin, guitar, bass and vocals to the amazement of all and the bemusement of many.  
From the very beginning he would attempt the instrument no one else in the group enjoyed – and still does.  As a fan once described the experience, "You ain't heard nothing!"  And that, my friend, is the definitive!  
After years and years on the road, extirpating relationships, the likes of Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Buddy Griffin, Jessie McReynolds, John Parrot, Sam Bush, Vassar Clemmens, Ben Schubert, Bob Shane, Katie Lauer, John Hartford and yes, even the great Jethro Burns – JP has confronted them all – briefly – but that's sufficient for the man who covets his privacy to the exclusion of frequent appearances.

 
Jim Price –  When the going became troubled, he turned pro. 
If you hear him only once, that would be enough.

 

 
 

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Susan Jeske Dermody  Susan Nicholson
  Fiddle

I started out studying classically as a 7 year old, and had a bit of Suzuki training. After high school, playing bored me, and I was bitten by the travel bug, so I set the violin down for a while. Upon returning to Milwaukee after a short stint in England, I met a small group of traditional music enthusiasts (primarily Celtic music, but a smattering of other trad stuff) and we became The Ghillies. After the Ghillies disbanded, John Nicholson & I founded Frogwater, and we are still at it today. Through all of this, I was always trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I "grew up".
A few years back, Mike called me to play fiddle on a show or two with Pike Creek. After playing with the boys, they asked me to join them on a permanent basis. I was thrilled! Never have I met such kind, generous and fun guys! The thing about Pike Creek that truly makes it special is that (as Mike says) we are friends FIRST. There's no EGO (unlike other musical forays I've had). It's all about the fun. A gig with Pike Creek can make a crummy day turn out to be pretty darn great!
...and I finally figured out just what I want to DO (make MUSIC)...but I refuse to "grow up"!
 

 

 

 
 

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Scott DeKok  Scott DeKok
  Bass
 

I’ve been a musician around town for a while now, both as a member of Pike Creek and as an itinerant tenor soloist/choir member. I’ve enjoyed singing with Bach Chamber Choir, the Milwaukee Mastersingers and the Milwaukee Choral Artists, but I have to say the most fun I’ve ever had performing is with Pike Creek  -maybe it has something to do with “some of that Pike Creek Band tradition(synchronized drinking with the band). I do know that Mike and Mark are my very best friends in the world – who else would have helped me move so many times! To paraphrase an old Virginia Slims commercial line, “we’ve come a long way from playing in the duckpin bowling alley”. Susan is every bit as great as she seems to be from the audience’s perspective. She can move you with the beauty of her playing and with the generosity of her spirit. We’re also thrilled to have Colin O’Brien and Chad Whitty sitting in with us on a semi-regular basis. 

 
 

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