meet the band

With a name that embodies being green in the sense of always growing, this acoustic rock and soul duo settled into the Americana genre with their music incorporating several styles. When writing songs, they don’t limit themselves to one style, but instead, create music to tell their stories that they hope will inspire others. With the dream of energizing the spirit and freeing the audience of all concern through an immersive, passionate musical experience, Ellen Skogman and Billy Kensinger started performing together in January 2019. The audiences felt such a connection with The Leafy Greens Band that the duo has decided to spread joy across America, touring every summer and fall.  From June until October, they will be performing everywhere between Willamette Valley, Oregon to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, driving between 25,000-30,000 miles.

The Leafy Greens Band are taking that in-person immersive, passionate musical experience and channeled it into recording their first album with the help of producer, Randy Wolan, who has recorded live bluegrass albums which included The Avett Brothers and The SteelDrivers. Ellen and Billy are proud of the songs they have written together, incorporating originals into their live shows. 

Ellen, who you can find on vocals and tambourine, grew up in Jupiter but has Minnesota roots. A classically-trained choral singer, Ellen began her performing career in high school as the President of Jupiter High Choir. Ellen's vocal styling has been described as having the electric rasp of Janis Joplin, the sultry tone of Natalie Merchant, and the feathery gruff of Stevie Nicks. 

Billy, on vocals and guitar, hails from Kenai, Alaska where, as a young teen, he cut his teeth playing classic rock and blues with his brothers in their band, Badge. Touring all over the Kenai Peninsula gave Billy a solid foundation in performing arts which led to a deep passion for a variety of musical stylings. Billy's biggest influences are Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray, Joe Cocker, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, Paul Rodgers, B.B. King, Albert King, Paul Byrd and The Escalators, Robert Pepper and Gary Superman. This collaboration also extends to the venues they play. They not only work to connect with the audiences by playing what the fans want to hear, but they consider themselves employees of the venue because it’s their jobs to make sure people are being entertained during their shows. And that's exactly what they do every single time.