Steve Lesko says he “really lucked out” with his next-door neighbors. They don’t mind if he plays his music loud, they let him pop in any time for a home-cooked meal, and he’s always welcome to borrow their tools. That’s because Lesko’s neighbors are his parents. 

During Covid, Lesko was living with his parents, Lynn and Mike, and his grandmother Barbara, when their longtime neighbor put her house up for sale. The Leskos bought it, and its renovation became a father-son pandemic project. Ten minutes from Chelsea in Lyndon Township, the properties are surrounded by pasture, ponds, and woods—and are home to the family’s two horses, three dogs, and two cats.

Lesko and his younger sister Ciara attended Chelsea Public Schools, where Lesko played the violin starting in fifth grade. By freshman year of high school, he’d “burned out” on classical music and joined the Chelsea House Orchestra. That was where “I fell in love with Celtic music,” says Lesko.

The 1996 brainchild of Chelsea High’s then–music director Jed Fritzemeier, CHO offers an alternative to classical orchestra. Fritzemeier is a “legend,” Lesko says, who transformed a small orchestra program into a thriving success. Lesko is one of at least seven touring fiddlers among its alumni.

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After he graduated, Lesko brought his enthusiasm and a crate full of sheet music to Grand Valley State and convinced fellow fiddler and GVSU student Carly Meloche—his close friend from CHO—to form a band. Carly “roped in” her cousin, vocalist and keyboardist Clare McMillan, and CrossBow was born in his apartment building’s “dinky basement room.” The group played its first gig at the Albion corn festival, with an audience of five—“two were Carly’s parents,” he laughs.

Since then, CrossBow has performed everywhere from the Detroit Highland Games to the Highlands of Scotland. From St. Patrick’s Day through the end of summer, “we go hard,” Lesko says. Regulars at the Michigan Celtic Festival in Saline, they’ve played all of Michigan’s major festivals, as well as venues in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

His six bandmates, whom he calls “family,” have full-time careers—there’s a physician, an engineer, and a mom of three in the bunch. Lesko says that by comparison, he has “lived a very unconventional life.” Though he got his degree in sound design for film and video, he says, “I struggle with the corporate world. I’m an artist at heart.”

Since graduating from GVSU in 2014, Lesko’s paid the bills as a substitute teacher, musician’s assistant, creator of radio and TV spots for a local company, boom operator for films in Detroit, and an AV tech for the Chelsea City Council. That’s where he learned about the “nitty gritty” of Chelsea. He says he’s especially encouraged by Chelsea’s “downtown boom,” the improvements at TimberTown, and the big plans for the new Main St. park.

He recently accepted a new job as a sales manager for a music industry–adjacent software company. But thirteen years in, making music and managing CrossBow remains his first love.

Next April, Lesko will lead the group’s fan tour to Scotland. Meanwhile, he’s practicing what he calls “high-energy, toe-tappin’” Celtic music in Chelsea’s countryside.

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