Gary grew up playing electric guitar in rock and country bands and started delving into traditional music—including old-time fiddle music and West African guitar styles—in the early 1980s. For nearly ten years, Gary was a member of The Hix, a band that the Philadelphia Music Press described as "sound[ing] like Doc Boggs meets David Byrne on the way to Lou Reed's House." He performed as lead guitarist with Lejeune Jones Band and Jennie Stearns Band and toured with James Leva and Memory Theatre.

Leah has a rhythmic fiddle style that is rooted in old-time Appalachian music. For nearly 15 years, in addition to playing for square- and contra-dances, she performed with The Poodles, a Boston-based band whose second recording, Unleashed, won an honorable mention in the "best string" category at the 1994 NAIRD Indie awards. For two years, she performed with The Hix. Leah's first musical passion was for Balkan and Eastern European traditional styles, and for several years she performed traditional Hungarian tanchaz music on three-stringed kontra-viola with The Pulis and with violinist Beth Bahia Cohen.

They perform regularly at 49 West Coffeehouse in their hometown of Annapolis, Maryland, and created the monthly "American Roots Night" series there. For over a decade, they cohosted and played for the Galesville Community Square Dance.