Pandora's Hammer

We are university educated musicians. We are "Boomers", and especially love working for folks who remember what Rock music used to be. Fran is Blind, and in many cases, with prior agreement, we will be accompanied by her Guide Dog, Ferguson, a very sweet and gentle Golden Retriever/Lab mix.
For the music you can expect either an interactive crowd-engaged performance, or a simple mood setting instrumental background presence, or anything in between. We can be as subtle or CRAZY LOUD as the situation requires.
For a totally unplugged acoustic performance, we can arrive as a duo of guitar and bass, or as two guitars, or as a trio or quartet of guitar, bass, mandolin, and violin (fiddle), or any combination of these musicians, all with strong vocals when needed. We can play soft rock, folk, bluegrass, jazzgrass, or very soft and mood appropriate instrumental dinner music.
The electrified Classic Rock version has us fully connected to our state-of-the-art sound system and backline, allowing for concert auditorium level sound.

Pandora's Hammer acoustic version is comprised of the core duo of Frances Franks on lead guitar and vocals, and Lowell-James Hicks on upright bass, acoustic guitar, and vocals. We have several musicians who rotate to fill out the group when we get requests for trio, quartet (most often), or quintet.
We are mostly "boomers", having grown up playing bluegrass, classic rock and folk, progressive rock, and jazz standards. Most of the personnel in Pandora's Hammer have advanced degrees in a variety of disciplines including Law, Psychology, Counseling, and Music. It is safe to estimate that when adding our recent history as individuals and collectively, we represent well over 500 performances in the four years prior to Covid. We know the requirements of the gig, whether it be a Birthday Party, Corporate Anniversary, Non-Profit Fundraiser, Outdoor Festival, or Candlelight Dinner.
As to the Classic Rock electrified Pandora's Hammer, we are the same man and woman couple of Bay Area ‘Boomers’ performing full volume Classic Rock and Unplugged Acoustic in Northern California since 2017.
We work with backing tracks which we record in our professional studio. Frances Franks on lead guitars, keyboards, drums, vocals. Lowell-James Hicks on upright and electric bass, steel guitar, electric guitars, percussion, and vocals.
As a duo with a small stage footprint, we play guitars, bass, and vocals live… with our backing track instruments and vocals completing our full band sound.
We are formally educated professional musicians who have performed all over the continental US and Hawaii, and you will likely be very glad you found us.

If you wish an amplified outdoor performance, but have no electricity, we can carry an off-grid 12 volt conversion setup that provides 2000 watts of full volume for as long as four hours.