The Band

The Hollow Point Stumblers conjure up a melting-pot melange of Slavic, Balkan and Latin music wrapped inside a juke-joint hoe-down of Country, Gospel and Soul. The band’s love of musical mashups is reflected in their love of language: in any given set you’ll hear singing and shouting in Yiddish, Spanish, Ladino, French, Romanian, and English.

Led by Juan Kuffner, a New Orleans musician and first-generation child of immigrants from Germany and Ecuador, the Stumblers emerged during a rain-soaked winter of 2012 from the flatlands of California’s Central Valley, in and around the Delta river-town of Sacramento. Every song is a wounded heart from a broken record, bringing  young and old together to dance the night away.

The Stumblers are:

Juan Kuffner: vocals, accordion, melodeon, percussion, kazoo

Fueled by a love of alcohol and seafood, Juan is blearily and shamelessly happy writing music in any style. His vocals tap the barrel of drunken songs of pain and despair from around the world, while his accordion playing is reminiscent of a flame-thrower doused with gasoline.

Nick Carvajal: vocals, drums, guitar

Nick’s never met an instrument he couldn’t play or a gig he couldn’t take. Another fresh off the boat turned gringo, you’ll find him equally at home in Brazilian jazz or Death Metal.

Levi Saelua: clarinet

Levi’s a revered clarinet player in the Sacramento jazz scene making his debut in an unfamiliar world. People think he’s intimidating but you should only feel that way if you try to keep up with his playing.

Laura Tjoelker: violin

Laura’s a revered fiddle player in the Sacramento Celtic scene making her debut in an unfamiliar world. People think she’s intimidating but you should only feel that way if you try to keep up with her playing.

Robin Croen: upright bass

We are thankful that Robin’s in the band so we can perform Yiddish and Sephardic music with the line “we have a Jewish bandmate so it’s OK.” Robin joined the Stumblers and the Tea Party in 2013 as Kim’s abalone-diving schedule just got too crazy.

Kim Nguyen: flute

When not performing with The Stumblers you can find Kim dissecting animals, raising silkworms, and being the poster-child for our local Maker community.

A big thanks also goes to:

… the many New Orleans players of the band, including:

All the members of the G-String Orchestra

Alex McMurray: guitar and vocals

Gregory Good (G-String Orchestra, By & By String Band): guitar

Joseph McGinty: violin (Zydepunks, Debauche, Caspian Hat Dance)

Kiyoko McCrae: guitar and vocals (By & By String Band)

Jay Steigner: drums (White Colla Crimes, I Octopus)

Daniel Murphy: drums (Krew of Eris, Slow Danger)

M’issa Fleming: flute, vocals (Slow Danger)