Bill Skimos on Palace records

The Bill Skimos Band has been performing Macedonian folk music, and music of the Balkans, throughout the Midwest for over five decades, since 1963. While numerous musicians have swapped in and out of the band, Bill Skimos and his Clarinet have given the band its signature sound from the very beginning. Other instrumentation includes trumpet, saxophone, bouzouki, keyboards, guitar, and drums. Signature two-part vocal harmonies bring out the soul of traditional folk melodies. The band plays primarily for weddings and community dances for Macedonian, Greek, and Romanian groups in the area.

Current Members of the band are Bill Skimos (clarinet), Tom Bliznoff (trumpet, saxophone, bouzouki, vocals), Jim Skimos (keyboards, vocals), Zoran Popovski (guitar, vocals), and Nico Pliastos (drums, vocals).

Three current members have roots back to Village Chereshnitsa, and at least three former members do also.

The band has produced four recordings. They are Balkan Folk Music (LP) recorded in 1971, Balkan Folk Music 2 (LP) recorded in 1979, Old Country Favorites (Cassette) recorded in 1989, and Zaigrajte (Cassette and CD) recorded in 1997. All of these recordings are available for purchase on CD. (LPs have been converted to CD).