About Us

Drum Brothers

In the late 1980’s, Matthew and his brother Patrick Marsolek were inspired by the rhythmic music created during evening circles at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, an educational center west of Helena, Montana.

Patrick began making drums for himself, but the instruments were so popular with the Feathered Pipe’s guests that they all were purchased immediately. Matthew soon joined him in this new entrepreneurial effort and the two set up shop in the Ranch’s garage. During this time, Matthew began studying West African music with his friend and teacher, Michael Harrison.

In the fall of 1989, Michael Marsolek left Portland, where he worked in the restaurant business, and moved to Montana to join Matthew and Patrick in the musical trio, The Marsolek Brothers. The three also worked together in the newly named drum-building company, Drum Brothers Drums. Not long after this, their father David, who had been building drums in Wisconsin and working as a family therapist, also moved to Montana to be part of the venture. Drum Brothers Drums, now based in Arlee, Montana, has distributed hand-crafted instruments across the United States and in Canada.

Drum Brothers began performing together as a musical group on New Year’s Eve 1994 as a part of Missoula’s inaugural First Night celebration. The early group consisted of Matthew, Michael and David Marsolek, and Casey Alexander.

The band soon developed a following in Western Montana and released their debut CD, Power of Rhythm, in early 1997. In mid 1997, David and Casey left the band to follow other interests (David managed the drum-making shop in Arlee Montana until his retirement in 2015).

Multi-instrumentalist Lawrence Duncan, joined the band in June, 1997. Nathan Zavalney, who first connected with Drum Brothers as Matthew’s student, followed that November. Nathan played with the band for 10 fun filled years and then in 2007, went on to follow other pursuits. In 2008, Colin Ruggiero joined Drum Brothers and played with the group until 2017 when his film-making career started to take off. As of summer 2018, Drum Brothers’ newest members are Tracy Topp and Ravi Topp Marsolek.

matthew at drumbrothers.com

Matthew Marsolek

Matthew Marsolek has received awards of excellence from the University of Montana for his musical work with theater and dance.

He has studied East Indian and West African music for the past 18 years with a variety of teachers, including Mukesh Desai from India and Abdoul Doumbia from Mali, West Africa. Matthew has experience and training in jazz, classical, and Hindustani vocal technique and is also an accomplished jazz and classical guitarist.

As a recording artist, he has released projects with Drum Brothers and Mandir as well as two solo recordings, the most recent entitled, The Bhakti Road.

A dedicated and charismatic educator, Matthew has a passion for rhythm, harmonic relationships, and the healing and community building potentials of music. He teaches classes and clinics in voice, rhythm, and hand drumming throughout the Northwest.

Matthew has been composing music for just about as long as he can remember. In addition to his work with Drum Brothers and Mandir, he's created music for theater, modern dance, spoken word, and film. Click on the juke box below to listen.

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michael at drumbrothers.com

Michael Marsolek

Michael Marsolek is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. In Drum Brothers and as a guest in other ensembles he is featured on numerous drums and percussion instruments. He has a passion for the didgeridoo and Native American flute and is a long time singer, currently in his seventh season with Dolce Canto. Michael has been collaborating with Lawrence Duncan on the Musical Dreamtime Journey events for 15 years and he's appeared with the world music ensembles, Mandir and Tapas. He produced and performed on The Stories Project and A Musical Dreamtime Journey CD's and has performed on over 15 recordings since 1996. 

Michael was the live recording coordinator and engineer for Bill Harley's "Yes to Running" 2009 Grammy winning CD. In 2011 he received the individual artist award from the Missoula Cultural Council for grateful recognition of his outstanding achievement and contributions to the quality of life in Missoula. Michael has worked at Montana Public Radio since 1989 and has been program director for the network since 2001. In addition to regular radio work, he's also a voice over artist and appears on Montana PBS and on-stage, announcing at numbers of concert events and festivals around Montana. He lives in the Rattlesnake valley of Missoula, Montana, with his two youngest children Sophia and Patrick.

lawrence at drumbrothers.com

Lawrence Duncan

Lawrence lives and works as a musician with his partner Mary Werner a few blocks from downtown Missoula, Montana. He is employed as a Music Thanatologist by Hospice of Missoula, and as a performer and workshop co-facilitator with Drum Brothers World Music/Rhythm ensemble based in Arlee, Montana. He has recorded tracks on projects with Shake Russell and Dana Cooper, Mandir, Drum Brothers, Brian Kopper, John Floridis, and A Musical Dreamtime Journey.

Bassoon, soprano saxophone, flutes and recorders, West African percussion, harp, voice and EWI are some of the instruments Lawrence makes use of in performance and in his work as a contemplative musician. Essential to his life as a musician is the conviction that musical activity can be a means of connecting with the world of Divine Creative impulses.

tracy at drumbrothers.com

Tracy Topp

A dancer since she was three, Tracy has choreography experience and training in many dance styles, including West African, Middle Eastern, modern, and jazz. She has studied African drumming and dance with many teachers including; Youssouf Koumbassa, Mabiba Baenge, and Djeneba Sako.

A self described renaissance girl, Tracy has a B.A. in Arts from Nebraska Wesleyan and is also a singer and multi-instrumentalist (You can hear her sing on The Bhakti Road).

Since 2002, she has been contributing her artistic talents to Drum Brothers in the manufacture of djembe, ashiko, and frame drums. Tracy also teaches weekly hand drumming classes in Missoula, Montana.

ravi at drumbrothers.com

Ravi Topp Marsolek

Ravi is the home-schooled son of Matthew and Tracy who's played music since he was very young. Having grown up in the Drum Brothers music community, rhythm and drumming are a second nature to him.

In addition to music-making, Ravi’s also passionate about Argentine Tango and dances regularly with the Missoula Tango community. A budding multi-instrumentalist, he’s currently exploring and studying bass, mandolin, guitar, piano, and percussion.

dave at drumbrothers.com

Dave Marsolek

Now retired from Drum Brothers, Dave has had a rich life of musical experiences, from playing in a polka band as a young man, singing in choral groups, playing guitar and harmonica, to performing as a founding member of drum brothers.

Over the years, he has worked variously as a medical technologist, teacher at a junior college, family therapist (he has a M.S. in family therapy), massage therapist, Forest Service employee, and as a cabinet maker.

In 1990, Dave was invited by his sons to join the Drum Brothers partnership as a drum builder. He also performed with Drum Brothers from 1994 through 1997, when he left the performance ensemble to shift his focus toward drum building. When he retired in 2015, Dave had helped with the manufacture of over 7100 Drum Brothers drums.

"It’s gratifying to know that through classes, drum circles, drum building workshops, and drum groups around the country, thousands of people have discovered this delightful way of creating and participating in making music," Dave says.