Wayne Buttery and the Groove Project is a dynamic, entertaining collective with a big soulful sound. Their bluesy, engaging music just makes you want to jump up and move. Individually these artists have appeared or performed with a who’s who of soul, blues, R&B, and jazz including James Cotton, Wilson Pickett, Dutch Mason, Matt Minglewood, Ronnie Hawkins, Dianne Heatherington, Dinah Christie, Buffy St. Marie, Marty Robins, The Oakridge Boys, The Bellamy Brothers, Jennette Brantley, Joey Hollingsworth, The Majestics featuring Shawne & Jay Jackson, Tony Flaim, Gary U.S. Bonds, Curley Bridges and many others. WAYNE BUTTERY & THE GROOVE PROJECT is a collection of veteran musicians from Central Ontario who have been performing live together since 1998. The original band members got together in March of 1998 when Wayne reunited with former organist and long time friend Bob Federer. Next to join forces with Wayne and Bob was bass player and vocalist Charlie Hinkel and lastly it was Dennis King who accepted an invitation to become the band's regular drummer. The band's first live performance was on Saturday, May 9, 1998. After performing in Ontario's Simcoe County in the Georgian Triangle for almost four years it became evident that it was time for the next phase. So in February 2001 along with some musician friends like Mike Roberts, Ronnie Douglas, Steve Thomas, Simon Wallis and Paul Robillard the band began production of their debut CD entitled WAITING. The response to date has been positive with plenty of radio airplay on blues broadcasts worldwide. John Taylor of Blues On Stage magazine wrote: The title track is a heartfelt ballad of heartbreak, stunningly effective in its straightforward simplicity. Maple Blues magazine's John Valenteyn writes: "Waiting", the title song (by Hinkel) and "Are You Doin' It Alone", with its acoustic intro, (by Buttery) are the best. "Waiting" is a well-written tender ballad done as a duo by Hinkel & Buttery and "Doin' It" is a mid tempo blues with a nice vocal and slide guitar parts. John Swartz of the Orillia Packet & Times explains: The band put together a very polished performance, one that deserves to be in your CD collection. Shortly after the release of WAITING, four new members were added to the band's regular line-up. Trumpeter Paul Robillard, Russ Strathdee on tenor and baritone sax, John Shand who plays alto sax, guitar, bass and vocals plus Larry Kurtz on harmonica and vocals, LIVE AT TWISTERS is the band's second CD offering and features a sold out live performance recorded on December 1, 2002 at Twisters Roadhouse in Orr Lake near Midland, Ontario. Wayne and the guys had some fun recording mostly cover material on this live performance CD with the only non-cover being a John Shand R&B original entitled My Baby Got The Love.. Bob Federer now calls Berwick Nova Scotia home and although we still collaborate to this day for recording purposes he is no longer a regular performing member of "The Groove Project". Taking Bob's place was Mark Rutherford, a consummate pianist and keyboard player who's contributions were well documented over his almost seven year rain as keyboardist. Unfortunately, Mark lost his thirteen-month battle with leukemia on the Morning of Friday, December 31, 2010 at approximately 3:10 a.m. Mark will be truly missed by all who knew him. Since the untimely departure of Mark Rutherford, "The Groove Project" has been performing with one of two keyboardists. Louis Lefaive, who is a fine entertainer in his own right and who also filled in for Mark while he was in hospital and/or recovering from his chemotherapy treatment. Louis can often be seen on live "Groove Project" performances. However, more recently Peter Boynton: piano, organ, keyboards and vocalis, has been tending to "The Groove Project" keyboard duties. In 1978, Peter joined up with Rob Baker on drums, Jeff Jones on bass, Ken Greer and Tom Cochrane on guitar and vocals to form Red Rider. They were signed to Capitol Records and released their first album "Don't Fight It" in 1980. With the singles "White Hot" and "Don't Fight It", the album quickly reached gold status. Their second album "As Far as Siam" was released in 1981 and featured the hit "Lunatic Fringe" which was used in the 1985 movie Vision Quest, which is now a mainstay on American classic rock radio. The song also saw high rotation on the United States cable network MTV. Peter has also performed with: Bo Diddley, J.K. Gulley, Sarah Melody, Joan Kennedy, The Ruanne's House Band, The Tone Dogs, Colleen Peterson, Burgundy Rose, Zappacosta and many others. With one platinum record and two gold records to his credit for his work with Red Rider, we are proud to include Peter Boynton as part of the "Wayne Buttery & The Groove Project" regular line-up. These days "Wayne Buttery & The Groove Project" perform at events as a quartet, quintet and everything up to an eight piece band with the core consisting of drums, bass, keyboards and guitar. Other musicians are added for performances as required. Full instrumentation includes drums, percussion, bass, keyboards, guitar, harmonica, saxophone and trumpet.