A tree-hugging saxophonist from the Chattanooga Valley by way of Athens, GA, saxophonist Marc Gilley is an saxophonist who focuses on original works while 

channeling the improvisational history of Chattanooga, TN (Bessie Smith, Jimmy Blanton, The Shaking Rays Levi Society, Yusef Lateef), the independent spirit of Athens, GA, and inspiration from the natural world in his playing. 

His approach to music is focused on using great compositions as a foundation to build, along with the members of the band, a new musical experience each time he puts his horns to his lips. The music is growing and ever changing and each performance is a reflection of a moment in time shared with others. 

He has appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Jazz a Vienne, the Dogwood Festival, and Athfest, among others, and at many well-known music venues including The Tabernacle, the 40 Watt club, 30 Rock, NY, NY. He has performed with the B-52s, Widespread Panic, Drivin and Cryin, Cracker, Camper van Beethoven, Martha Reeves, and Dave Brubeck.  A saxophonist from the age of 10, he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone Performance from the University of Georgia.

Brian Smith plays bass and guitar and teaches in the Athens, Georgia, area. Originally from Augusta, he picked up the guitar when he was 5 and the bass a year later. He moved to Athens, GA in 1995 to study guitar at the University of Georgia under the tutelage of John Sutherland. 

While there, Brian met the members of the Georgia Guitar Quartet and began a more than twenty year career with the ensemble, taking the group to various performance halls across the country, teaching many masterclasses and recording five albums. The quartet has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today many times over the last nine years and has also been featured and interviewed on local radio stations across the country. 

Brian is also a founding member of Revien, which features cello and two classical guitars, and using various effects and loops to widen the sounds available to the ensemble. Revien has also been featured on Performance Today and has recorded two albums. The group plays a wide variety of music spanning many genres and has toured across the Southeast. 

Brian has an active solo career on guitar showcasing original pieces and newly commissioned works as well as standard classical guitar pieces.

One thread that has connected all of his musical adventures is his experimentation with musical effects and his love of rhythm. In Big Sauty you’ll find Brian holding down the low end on bass, locking in time with Erin, and dropping flashes of inspiration regularly.