Mo Levone was born in 1627 to the second wife of the chief of a nomadic tribe of Yak herders high in the desolate, arid plains of Mongolia. He lived a long and fruitful life, succeeding his father as chief of his tribe. Mo Levone took 4 wives over his lifetime and, except for his third wife, Platri, they each bore him children. Platri, doomed to a lesser status because of her infertility, chose to focus on weaving. Little did she know that two of her fine blankets would one day end up on display in the "Primitive People's" wing of the Omaha Museum of Natural History. Mo Levone's 13 children grew up and at the time of Mo Levone's death he was survived by 3 of his 4 wives, all 13 of his children, and an astonishing 53 grandchildren!

The Mo Levone in Honeywagon is an entirely different person from the nomadic Yak herder. This Mo Levone (aka. Benjamin "Benwell" Levine), was born to a family of musicians. He followed in his father's footsteps, and began playing the bass professionally when he was in college. Mo Levone has led a varied life, and has at different times, been a biologist (he worked on the Human Genome Project), a computer specialist (can any one say 'Tech Bubble'), and served on the faculty of the University of Southern California (fight on!).

Mo developed a love for Bluegrass music when he was still a teenager, growing up in Palo Alto, California. Many nights were spent sipping coffees at St. Michael's Alley, a local coffee shop that served up hot bluegrass several nights each week. Mo's love for bluegrass finally found an outlet with Honeywagon and has only grown stronger with each new album they've recorded.

Of course a professional musician can't live on bluegrass alone and Mo has worked with a host of other world-class musicians from Jazz (Bennie Maupin, Scott Henderson), to Blues (Keb 'Mo), to Pop (Lisa Loeb), to Classical (Mo performed on the Grammy award-winning record "Guitar Heroes" by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet), and yes, he has played his share of Country music as well (Mo is currently on tour with Josh Gracin and Mark Wills).

So the next time you are bumpin' some Honeywagon and you feel the low end rumbling, just remember two words. MO LEVONE! !

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