PG Stephen Ashbrook

West Coast singer/songwriter Stephen Ashbrook had access to only two records growing up (Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water and Jesus Christ Superstar), both of which were enticing enough to send the California native on a hunt to his local library to expand his musical horizons. Citing heroes as diverse as John Steinbeck, the Rolling Stones, and Winston Churchill, Ashbrook honed his chops amidst the fertile late-'90s Tempe, Arizona alt-rock scene, where he took home The Phoenix Tribune's Best Acoustic Performer title in both 1998 and 2000; he even got to play for President William Jefferson Clinton, at the request of the White House.