The Weeds

John Weed, fiddler for The Weeds, Molly’s Revenge and New World String Project, has spent the last 30 years immersed in various fiddle styles. With an affinity for folk traditions, John’s exploration has emphasized Irish, Scottish, Swedish, and Old-Time fiddle.

While he holds a bachelor’s degree of music from CSU Chico, the musical education that charted his path began through a long series of Irish sessions. There, he learned the nuance of aural passing of melodies and the tradition of conversing in a deeply musical manner. John’s passion for the vital expressiveness of the session lead to performing across the United States and internationally.

In addition to being a full time performer and instructor, John is currently on faculty at Palenke Arts, a multicultural arts organization in Seaside, California.

Evan Weed is the youngest in the family. Like Tyler, Evan grew up on the road, accompanying his father’s touring bands to festivals, performing arts centers, house concerts, and many fiddle camps. During the pandemic, Evan completely immersed himself in a world of musical exploration on piano, melodica, harp, drums, and Latin percussion.

Evan approaches backing of traditional music through a jazz-influenced lens. While his backing remains rooted in the traditions of Irish music, his sense of harmony, rhythm, and interaction has been shaped by years of playing jazz. This gives his backing a distinctive character, allowing him to support traditional melodies while bringing a different kind of musical conversation to the session.

For the past four years, he has been a member of the nationally ranked SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Big Band. During this time, the ensemble performed two of his original big band compositions and one of his big band arrangements, which earned DownBeat awards for Original Composition Large Ensemble in 2025 and 2026, and for Jazz Arrangement in 2026.

In 2025, Evan received the Outstanding Honors Soloist Award at the Las Vegas Essentially Ellington Jazz Festival and was selected as the pianist for the MJF Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, a national big band. He was also a national YoungArts winner in both 2025 and 2026 in the categories of Jazz Composition and Jazz Piano.

In his youth, he had frequent exposure to traditional music as he accompanied his father’s band, Molly’s Revenge, to many festivals, venues, and sessions. Today, he has become accomplished on mandolin, tenor banjo, and guitar. Heavily influenced by Bay Area mandolin great Marla Fibish, Tyler’s playing style can be characterized by percussive triplet ornamentations with a driving, yet hypnotic groove. While he started with Irish music, Tyler’s passion and experience extends into other diverse genres including Scottish, American Old Time, Jazz, Funk, Rock, and more. Drawing on this wealth of musical knowledge, Tyler has developed a creative and distinct composition style which is prominently featured on The Weeds album, “Supernatural”.

Tyler received First-Place Maestro Soloist Award for jazz guitar at the 2022 Anaheim World Strides Heritage Festival. He was the featured ‘Next Generation’ performer at the 2023 San Francisco International Festival of Mandolins. Tyler is a frequent instructor at various music camps, including Big Sur Fiddle Camp, Community Music School Teen Camp, Wallowa Fiddle Tunes, and Weeds Winter Jam Camp.