Cover songs pleasing to people of all ages along with a groovy original song mixed in on occasion - The Circle Of Trust is still rolling. Billing themselves as "The World's Only Thom Welte Tribute Band ", the band proudly performs material previously delivered in the voice of Welte on hundreds of nights in Florida cities ranging from Jacksonville to Tavernier, over to Sarasota, all over Fort Lauderdale, and on up to Lake Worth, and West Palm Beach, but most of the time in recent years, on Hollywood beach! The unfortunate November 8, 2011 loss of frontman, Thom Welte (55yrs), reminds everyone to enjoy singing and dancing now - what if it could be the last time? Welte composed all tracks and was executive producer of "13 Short Stories", the band's CD officially released by The Barefoot Elves December 1, 2009. That Good Night was the last original song by Welte recorded at Little Pink Studios. The band has also recorded some new material written since Welte's passing. No date has been set for the release of any new longplay CD as of this writing. Pat Kregor plays drums and percussion, continuing on with Jeff Egan and Ken Gruneisen, founding members who joined with Welte forming the Fort Lauderdale-based acoustic rock fusion act known as the Circle Of Trust Trio, or "The Triangle of Trust". Formative performances of this all-stringed acoustic unit date back to Tuesday nights at the Tavern 213 in 2006, or perhaps earlier. Rare recordings captured the Welte, Egan, Gruneisen, Kregor acoustic lineup at a birthday party around that time. Jeff uses the band as a perfect backdrop to burn through a non-stop assault of bee-bop jazz influenced guitar riffs. Ken Gruneisen still anchors the unit with a solid rhythmic foundation and a full, round tone on an Alvarez acoustic bass guitar. Kregor performed with Welte in earlier bands over a span of nearly 20 years. He joined COT immediately before the band's performance at the 1st Annual "Giving Thanks" Concert for Kids In Distress 11/23/08, replacing original drummer/percussionist Dave McMeniman. After a three year series of concerts at the Cinema Paradiso, the 4th Annual "Giving Thanks" Concert was relocated to Revolution Live. The November 29, 2011 performance served also as a special tribute to the recently departed Welte. The night featured The Circle Of Trust and additional friends on stage, with return performances by J. D. Danner Band and the Albert Castiglia Band. All proceeds from this annual event are donated to Kids in Distress. The Circle Of Trust attracts crowds of listeners regularly. Special friends are often invited into the "circle" as featured guests, expanding the dynamic power of this brilliant group of performers. When this happens, the turnout is often magical! Since 2014, Ken and Pat both have performed with Big Medizen. Ken has also been performing for more than 18 years with Box of Rocks. Jeff Egan's jazz trio plays every Sunday 11AM-3PM at Croissan'Time in Ft Laud. 2014 marked the release of a new CD recording of The Jeff Egain Trio titled "On The Blue Side".