Betsy Baer
The "Betsy " in Betsy and the Bears
Vocalist, Composer, songwriter, Secondary percussionist
Betsy Baer is an award-winning film and stage artist, with over twenty-three years of professional jazz vocal performance under her belt. A graduate of The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Wales UK (MA Musical Theatre Performance), Betsy has performed in venues across the globe including Hachinohe, Japan, Los Angeles, California, and notably The Actors’ Church in Covent Garden, London UK for Victor Spinetti’s Memorial as a featured soloist alongside Michael Ball OBE, attended by Sir Paul McCartney and Elaine Page OBE.
Betsy began performing on stage at the age of 4 as a featured singer in a trio for a theatrical production of A Lark Goes to the Movies, and was working professionally as a singer in the Midwest by the age of 15. She made her theatrical debut in Crossroad’s Repertory Theatre’s production of The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd, and by the age of 25 was giving private performances with her fellow RWCMD 2012 MAMT graduate students for theatrical greats, including Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Betsy has won a number of national and international independent film awards for her vocal work and musical direction, including the Vegas Film Festival Award for Best Song (feat. Betsy Baer as soloist and music director for the track "Let's Misbehave"), for her work on the independent Hoosier film, Viridian (2017) directed and produced by Mikael Drobny. You can hear Betsy on the 2024 January Fuzz Studio release of the Submerge Universe: Blue Star Original Film Soundtrack, directed by Demetrius Whitherspoon and produced by Sean Thomas, wherever music is streamed, including Spotify, YouTube Music, and Apple Music.
Brent (b.g.) mcpike
The first “bear” of Betsy and The Bears
guitarist, vocalist, composer, songwriter
Brent Gordon (B.G.) McPike began playing baritone ukulele and guitar with his grandfather and neighborhood friends while in junior high school. By age 14 he was playing guitar every Thursday evening for the Indianapolis West Side Young Life club. As a music student at Butler University’s Jordan College of Fine Arts, he played an audition for a traveling crew from Busch Gardens - The Old Country, and was one of six guitarists selected from across the Eastern half
of the USA to perform at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg for the 1987 summer season.
Since then, McPike has performed from Baltimore to Bangkok as a soloist, and in duets & bands with guitarist Dan Sumner (1st Prize Professional Duo at the University of Texas -Brownsville Guitar Ensemble Festival & Competition, 2009), with four-time National Mandolin Champion Solly Burton, Jazz Clarinet legend Buddy DeFranco, and recently with vocal artist Betsy Baer with whom he has collaborated in creating many fresh guitar-based arrangements of American Songbook favorites. McPike earned a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University in 2004. He spent 22 years in the Music faculty at Indiana State University, and several of his former students currently perform worldwide. In 2008 he was awarded the “Bravo! The Arts” award for being Arts Illiana’s top Professional Artist.
Eliot Crispin
The bear with the bass
bassist
Terre Haute native Eliot Crispin is an up-and-coming artist on the bass in the Indiana jazz scene. Eliot graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a degree in Jazz Studies. Comfortable in a wide variety of genres, Eliot has performed in such varied venues as
the Grand Ol’ Opry, the Son de la Terre in Paris, France - as well as at Le Baiser Salé in Paris, France.
Max Davis
The bear with the brushes
percussionist
Percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Max Davis joins Betsy and the Bears as the band’s drummer extraordinaire. Max’s musical journey began early, studying piano from second grade and picking up drums in fifth under the tutelage of Dan Lauby Sr.
As Max continued his musical education through high school and into his college career, rhythm quickly became the center of his creative voice. He studied Jazz Performance at Butler University, performing in the university’s jazz band for two years under Dr. Matthew Pivec, where he sharpened his sense of groove, dynamics, and ensemble playing. Seeking to expand beyond performance into the technical and creative sides of music-making, Max transferred to Full Sail University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Music Production. Max has performed in venues all over the Indianapolis Metro area, from The Jazz Kitchen in Broad Ripple, to The Shelton Auditorium and Schrott Center for the Arts, sharing the stage with the likes of Monika Herzig. He brings to Betsy and The Bears an easy groove that we are thrilled to add to our sound!