Bob Brandau – Guitar/Vocals
Bob started playing Guitar about the 8th grade, Louie Louie was all the rage. He played in a High school band, and also performed as a wandering minstrel around his home town, Santa Clara, CA. Bob inherited the nickname “Bayarea Bob” for his wandering minstrel activities. On vacation in Ireland he performed at a couple Pubs in Dublin. While in the Army Bob taught Guitar to a few buddies, they would play at parties and various gatherings. He worked as an Information Technology Specialist while in the Army and also for the Federal Government. Bob joined the “Rovin Fiddlers” of Issaquah, WA in 2014 and continues to perform with them as well as “WildeThyme”. Bob loves to experiment with various instruments, Piano, Mandolin, Harmonica, Ukulele, Banjo, and percussion instruments.
Marilyn Pedersen - Violin/Fiddle, Viola
Marilyn’s high school orchestra needed more violists, so Marilyn began viola lessons and auditioned for the Seattle Youth Symphony. Marilyn’s first trip to Europe was with a national youth orchestra, America’s Youth In Concert. Thinking that there might be more opportunities for violists, Marilyn started at the University of Washington as a viola performance major.
Fiddling and Bluegrass music always captivated Marilyn who began fiddling with a bunch of lawyers after work (The Learned Hand Bluegrass Band). Playing tunes in the parking lot of the Darrington Bluegrass Festival was an amazing experience.
Marilyn was the lone fiddler for 7.5 years with Marilyn and The G Strings, a rock & roll ukelele band and just recently joined Wilde Thyme to perform Irish along with a variety of tunes ranging from Classical to Pop.
Sue Lawrence - Violin/Fiddle
When a school Sue was attending in California introduced fourth graders to several instruments they might want to consider learning, she chose violin. Why? Because a set of twin girls she admired were demonstrating how to play the violin and they had pretty, long hair thus it was “cool” to learn to play that same instrument.
A half-century later, Sue still enjoys the opportunities playing violin has afforded her. While attending colleges, she played in the Purdue Symphony and Indiana University Civic Orchestra. During that time, she served as a counselor at a Michigan music camp and traveled/toured with their International Youth Symphony throughout the Scandinavian countries.
While raising her family, Sue played with the Dayton, Ohio Community Choir soloing with an Irish harpist and performed with various quartets and in other venues. After moving to Bellingham, Washington, Sue became acquainted and fell in love with Celtic music where upon she joined several stringed orchestras of that genre. She continued that interest when taking a job in Bellevue, Washington. The Fire Inside, Rovin’ Fiddlers, and the Wilde Thyme are all bands she has been a member since then.
Sue’s professional life has evolved around teaching 15 years in special education of which she holds a master’s degree. She then took a break working in several other jobs including library work, as a sales person for a violin shop, and serving as a nanny for several families. Sue returned to the field of education and now works as a para-educator for the Bellevue School District.
Music has always been a mainstay in Sue’s life and she has continued to play when the good fortune to do so has arisen.
Tom Casey – Guitar/Vocals
Rock and Roll was Tom's introduction to music and guitar. During his high school days Rock and Roll mainly consisted of three chord songs. He was in countless neighborhood pickup bands mainly playing in each other’s living rooms. Then came the ‘big break’. When he was a high school junior Tom joined “The Dons (the Gentlemen)”, a band of GI’s based in Munich Germany where he lived. They played all over Bavaria at US NCO clubs and enlisted men’s clubs. They played every weekend staying in army barracks eating army chow. His GI band mates loved it because it gave them the excuse to be off work in the Army. Tom loved it because he sometimes got to get out of school early on a Friday to make a gig.
His senior year in high school he lived in Denver. He played and sang in a coffeehouse called “The Green Spider”.
At Cisco Jr. College in Cisco Texas a group of musicians put together a band whenever they found a gig. They played high school dances and even entered in a weekly talent contest at a little movie theater in a nearby town. The Beatles were hot so they named the band “The Cockroaches”. They won every week.
Eventually Tom discovered Irish music. He joined a large group called the “Rovin’ Fiddlers” playing local venues on the Eastside of Seattle. A small group of them including Tom, Brother Bob Brandau, Barbara Scott, Sue Lawrence and later Donna Mansfield then formed “Wilde Thyme” to take a slightly different direction but still with an Irish focus. They play all over the Seattle area and have recorded their first CD, “A Little More Thyme”.