High Society is creating new standards, new sounds, and new music for the modern times. With mandolin, accordion and bass accordion, drums and percussion, guitar and vocals, HS is pushing the boundaries of acoustic music through an unusual combination of instruments and cutting edge social commentary. As the C-Ville Weekly notes, the band has “…some of the best musicians in town.” Their performances are spontaneous, original, and most assuredly uncompromised by the cookie cutter mentality that plagues much of today’s music.

Peyton Tochterman- vocals, guitar

Born in Virginia, Peyton Tochterman has played and written music his entire life. He studied guitar with Tom Espinola. He has played music with a bunch of different people, but he is most proud of playing music with the members of High Society.

Matty Metcalfe - accordion

Matty is a musician and music teacher who resides in Charlottesville, Virginia. He plays piano, accordion, banjo, mandolin, guitar, and bass.

Andy Thacker - mandolin

Andy has been surrounded by traditional Appalachian music since he was a boy, listening to his parents play fiddle tunes on the mandolin and open back banjo. He learned electric guitar from teacher Dean Musser while in high school and he returned to his roots when he picked up the mandolin at the age of 20. He attributes his studies with Steve Smith to the progress he has made on the mandolin. Andy spends his time exploring the possibilities of the mandolin, not only in the traditions of Old Time and Bluegrass music, but also in other various styles. He is the co-founder of the Bluegrass trio Fair Weather Bums.

Brian Caputo- drums/percussion

Brian Caputo like to bang on stuff.

John D’earth - trumpet

Jazz trumpeter and composer John D’earth has performed and recorded internationally and appeared on over 50 CDs, working with Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis/Quincy Jones, Tito Puente, Bruce Hornsby, Emily Remler, Bennie Wallace, Eddie Gomez, The George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, Bob Moses, Pat Metheny, Joe Henderson, Clark Terry, John Scofield, and John Abercrombie, among others. He has composed and arranged music for the Kronos String Quartet, The Kandinsky Trio, The Charlottesville Chamber Festival, Bruce Hornsby, The Dave Matthews Band, The San Diego, Atlanta, Richmond and Roanoke Symphony Orchestras, The University of Virginia Jazz Ensemble, The Great American Music Ensemble, and The Charlottesville-Albemarle Youth Orchestra. He recently completed a two-hour score for five instruments to be performed live with Mernau’s 1926 silent film masterpiece, Faustus. John has recorded as a leader for Vanguard Records, ENJA Records, DoubleTime Jazz and his own Cosmology label.

Currently residing in Charlottesville, Virginia he is cofounder of the Free Bridge Quintet, is the music director for Thompson-D’earth Band with his wife, vocalist and composer Dawn Thompson, leads the Charlottesville Swing Orchestra, the jazz/poetry project and his own quartet/quintet. As the director of Jazz performance at the University of Virginia, John teaches improvisation, jazz trumpet, and directs the UVA Jazz Ensemble. John D’earth’s career in music is documented in the recently published Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, (Oxford Press) by Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler.