Detour

Years at Winfield: 

Detour is a Michigan-based bluegrass band that combines original contemporary bluegrass sounds with great traditional favorites. Detour’s tight focused harmonies, precision instrumentals, and creative melodies take you down a unique bluegrass road.

Jeff Rose (mandolin, lead, harmony vocals) is the master musician whose original songs shape the Detour sound. Jeff's bluegrass roots run deep in eastern Kentucky. He toured extensively for over twenty years with Iowa Rose, the High Canyon Ramblers and the Porkypines. He has also led numerous workshops on songwriting, mandolin and guitar technique. Jeff is one of the current reigning IBMA golf champions.

Scott Zylstra (guitar, lead, harmony vocals), is a master of tone, taste and timing and propels the band forward with his superb rhythm and tasteful lead work. Scott has played in a number of bands throughout Michigan, including the Porkypines. Scott is the owner of Frontier Recording, a highly successful recording and production studio where the band records and rehearses. Scott's distinctive guitar style is always an immediate crowd favorite.

Lloyd Douglas (banjo, guitar, mandolin) is Detour's newest member. A poorly-kept secret among Michigan bluegrass veterans, Lloyd is widely regarded as one of the finest 5-string players in the region. He toured with Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys for several years, worked with Lynn Morris, and is superfiddler Michael Cleveland's first-call stand-in on banjo. He lives with his family in Alpena, Michigan, where he plays locally, and he regularly lives the bluegrass dream in the driver's seat of a freight locomotive.

Peter Knupfer has been a professional bluegrass, folk, swing and jazz fiddle player for over 30 years. He has performed with Byron Berline, Joel Mabus, Alan Munde, Donald Stiernberg, John McCuen, Tony Trischka, Bill Evans, Bill Keith, Tim O'Brien, Peter Wernick, Greg Cahill, Peter Ostroushko and Howard Levy. Peter teaches U.S. History at Michigan State University and lives with his family in East Lansing. "Peter Knupfer is one of those rare and wonderful fiddle players who can do it all," says mandolin virtuoso Donald Stiernberg. "Peter always brings a joyful intensity to the session and elevates his fellow musicians."

Jack Grant (bass)

Missy Armstrong (lead, harmony vocals, guitar) "I grew up being exposed to many kinds of music," Missy recalls. "My dad really loved music, he didn’t officially sing or play anything but he could remember every lyric to almost any song and we would whistle constantly." Country and gospel harmonies captivated her at an early age, so that she "grew up singing in our small country church whenever I could." Then the bluegrass bug bit her and for a time she ran with her own outfit, the Missy Kay Band, before signing on with the Detour boys. Her greatest influences these days are Eva Cassidy, Etta James, Lynn Morris, Dorothy Moore, Anne Murray, Tony Rice, Bonnie Raitt, Dolly, EmmyLou, and Patty Loveless.