Driven by traditional and original tunes from Tom Cunningham's fiery fiddle, and powered by the Latin and rock rhythms of Kate Sanders on keyboard and Luis de Leon on percussion and harmonica, Hot Coffee Breakdown brings a refreshingly wide variety of contra dance music to energize the dance floor. Hailing from Louisville, this versatile trio has excited dancers from New Jersey to Florida, and west to Chicago and St. Louis, working with top callers including Gaye Fifer, Seth Tepfer, Diane Silver and Darlene Underwood. Hot Coffee Breakdown promises to caffeinate your dancing!

Tom Cunningham is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, performer and teacher. He was instrumental in founding, playing and arranging for many of Pittsburgh’s best-known acoustic/bluegrass bands, including the bluegrass band The Flying Cunninghams, the swing band The Swing Shifters, and the contra dance band Band du Jour. In Louisville, Tom has played with top acoustic bands, including the gypsy jazz bands Gypsy de Ville and the Hot Club of Derbytown. His contra dance band, The Coffee Zombies, quickly became popular on the dance weekend circuit, and in 2016 morphed into Hot Coffee Breakdown.

Kate Sanders was around six when she started learning piano. She played as an accompanist through high school and college, while singing in choirs and ensembles. She and her husband, a guitarist, played and sang as a duo, and she learned to play the hammered dulcimer. She played piano on waltzes for a CD Tom Cunningham was producing, and filled in as a keyboard player on some Coffee Zombies gigs, transitioning to her regular role in Hot Coffee Breakdown.

Growing up in southern Mexico and western Guatemala, Luis de Leon improvised percussion on trash cans, old plates, plastic bottles and pot lids, with coffee branches as drumsticks. Over the last 15 years in the U.S., he has played folk, cumbia, jazz, gypsy funk and Latin ballads as a member of several bands—an eclectic mix that he brings to contra dance tunes.

The Hollertones Stringband was born in 2022 from a common love of fiddle tunes.  They have been having a ball playing for contra and square dances all over the Midwest and East Coast, from Glen Echo Park and Baltimore to the Old Farmer’s Ball at Swannanoa, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Columbus where they played for the 2024 Winter WarmUp dance weekend.  

Paul Brown is an Ohio State banjo champion and was a finalist in banjo at the Kansas Winfield festival. Paul is also skilled on dobro, fiddle and mandolin, and has taught in the Americana/Roots Music program at Denison University.

Linda Scutt was classically trained on violin but discovered the style of Kentucky fiddler JP Fraley who became her musical mentor.  Be it a lovely waltz or a driving fiddle tune, Linda nails it, often breaking into gorgeous harmony.

Jeanie Thieken Creamer plays mountain dulcimer, bass and mandolin, but is best known for her driving guitar and vocal versatility.  She honed her stage skills for 20 years as the front member of the traditional band Home Remedy.  

Nick Weiland started out as a drummer in a '60s garage band before switching to electric bass. He found his home on upright bass, playing a variety of styles, including folk, old-time and swing.  As well as holding down the Hollertones’ low end, he is bassist for the Hotpoint Stringband.