artist Pied Pumkin

Rick Scott, Joe Mock and Shari Ulrich have been making exuberant music together for over 30 years. In the mid 70's Pied Pumkin's mixture of timeless music, fearless arrangements and irreverent humour defied categorization and made the group a West Coast favourite. Their combination of dulcimer, violin, guitar and flawless harmonies created a sound completely original and enduring. They self-produced two LPS which sold over 30,000 copies for their own Squash Records--one of Canada's first independent labels.   After two years Shari left to join the Hometown Band and until 1982 Rick and Joe continued on playing and recording as Pied Pear. Rick became an internationally renowned children's entertainer and Joe lived and worked in Japan and France and all three have very successful solo careers. But they all missed the magic of the Pumkin, so in 1998 they got back together to 'play a few shows' and released a  Pumkin retrospective CD, Plucking DeVine, nominated as Best Folk/Roots Album in the Pacific Music Industry Awards.They had so much fun and the response was so great that they decided to keep on playing.They now tour once or twice a year, or as much as their busy schedules will allow.   In March 2000 Pied Pumkin released Pied Alive, a live CD of 13 songs recorded in 9 different communities during on their hugely successful 33 concert tour of Western Canada, In May 2007 they released their first children's CD, PUMKIDS - Tuneful Tales For Kids and Kin - in conjunction with a six week tour of children's festivals and folk venues. PUMKIDS was inspired by their children and their own childhoods, and features Fred Penner singing on UPSIDE OF DOWN, the theme song from the 2006 World Congress on Down Syndrome. Shari remembers her struggle to learn to play violin in ANNABELL'S FIDDLE and Joe recalls the power of music in his life growing up in WHEN THE BELL RINGS.