Uncle Earl
Encyclopedia
Uncle Earl is an American
old-time music
group, formed in 2000 by KC Groves
and Jo Serrapere. They are an all-women-band and often they refer to themselves as the g'Earls. Their fans have also been nicknamed as g'Earlfriends.
By March 2007, the release of Waterloo, Tennessee was the fifth record by the band, produced by the famed John Paul Jones
of Led Zeppelin
fame. The number of albums created by the bandmates was an impressive accomplishment considering that the members all live in different parts of the United States.
, Steve Earle
, and Uncle Tupelo
. It did come up in our discussion that there's some important Earls in this business. And Uncles."
Jo Serrapere left in 2003 and plays now with the Willie Dunns.
By the end of 2003 the current line-up had fallen into place. All the band members are co-vocalists. It consists of KC Groves
on mandolin
and guitar
, Abigail Washburn
on banjo
, Rayna Gellert
on fiddle
and Kristin Andreassen
, guitarist
, fiddler
, and clogging
. There was no permanent bass player
.
In late 2009, the band members were very busy and had trouble coordinating schedules for tours. Rayna Gellert and Abigail Washburn left the band on amicable terms to pursue their other musical projects. The new Uncle Earl line up is Andreassen, Groves, Stephanie Coleman on fiddle
, Paula Bradley on banjo
, banjo ukulele and clogging
, and Rachel Eddy on banjo
, fiddle
, and bass.
with Uncle Earl. Sharon Gilchrist
joined the band in late 2004 and can be heard on the seven song EP
Raise a Ruckus. There is a rather long list of other bassists with whom Uncle Earl have performed. On their website they mention Eric Thorin, Sally Truitt, Erin Coats Youngberg, Alana Rocklin, Mary Lucey, Bryn Davies
, Laura Cortese
, Kyle Kegerreis, Missy Raines
, and Dan Rose, with whom they have recorded their album She Waits for Night. Youngberg and Thorin play bass on the album Waterloo, Tennessee.
Sharon Gilchrist
left the band in early 2005 to play mandolin
in the Peter Rowan and Tony Rice
Quartet.
However Sharon Gilchrist played again at their 2010 Australian Tour.
Rachel Eddy joined so K.C. Groves took over the Bass mostly.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
old-time music
Old-time music
Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also...
group, formed in 2000 by KC Groves
KC Groves
Katherine "KC" Groves is an American mandolin player and singer specializing in old-time music and bluegrass. She grew up in Dearborn and lives now in Lyons, Colorado...
and Jo Serrapere. They are an all-women-band and often they refer to themselves as the g'Earls. Their fans have also been nicknamed as g'Earlfriends.
By March 2007, the release of Waterloo, Tennessee was the fifth record by the band, produced by the famed John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
of Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
fame. The number of albums created by the bandmates was an impressive accomplishment considering that the members all live in different parts of the United States.
Name
KC Groves mentioned in an interview how the band got its name, "We just thought it would be a funny name for an all-women's group," she says. "But we are fans of Earl ScruggsEarl Scruggs
Earl Eugene Scruggs is an American musician noted for perfecting and popularizing a 3-finger banjo-picking style that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music...
, Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
, and Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville...
. It did come up in our discussion that there's some important Earls in this business. And Uncles."
History
KC Groves and Jo Serrapere started the band in 2000. The Uncle Earl biography, however, states 1999 as founding year. Originally they had no real intention to start a band. They wanted to promote a CD with traditional material they had recorded and thus put together a small band to play a few shows. Since the shows went very well they kept on going. Until the end of 2003 the line-up of the band had changed several times. Amongst the members in this period where Tahmineh Gueramy (fiddle, vocals), Amanda Kowalski (bass, vocals), Casey Henry (banjo, vocals) and Sally Truitt (bass, vocals).Jo Serrapere left in 2003 and plays now with the Willie Dunns.
By the end of 2003 the current line-up had fallen into place. All the band members are co-vocalists. It consists of KC Groves
KC Groves
Katherine "KC" Groves is an American mandolin player and singer specializing in old-time music and bluegrass. She grew up in Dearborn and lives now in Lyons, Colorado...
on mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, Abigail Washburn
Abigail Washburn
Abigail Washburn is an American clawhammer banjo player and singer. She performs and records as a soloist, as well as with the old-time bands Uncle Earl and Sparrow Quartet.-Biography:...
on banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, Rayna Gellert
Rayna Gellert
Rayna Gellert is an American fiddler and singer specializing in old-time music. She grew up in Elkhart, in northern Indiana. Her father is the traditional fiddler and banjo player Dan Gellert. Originally a classically-trained violinist, she took up the old-time fiddle in 1994, when she moved to...
on fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
and Kristin Andreassen
Kristin Andreassen
Kristin Andreassen is an American musician and dancer. She grew up in Portland, Oregon as Kristin Andrews. In 2002 she started using her great-grandfather's name Andreassen. Kristin sings, plays harmonica, piano, guitar, banjo-uke and fiddle and she is also a songwriter...
, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, fiddler
Fiddler
A fiddler is a person who plays a fiddle or violin.Fiddler may also refer to:*Fabrangen Fiddlers, an American musical group founded in 1971*Tupolev Tu-28 "Fiddler", a fighter aircraft*Fiddler , a DC Comics villain...
, and clogging
Clogging
Clogging is a type of folk dance with roots in traditional European dancing, early African-American dance, and traditional Cherokee dance in which the dancer's footwear is used musically by striking the heel, the toe, or both in unison against a floor or each other to create audible percussive...
. There was no permanent bass player
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
.
In late 2009, the band members were very busy and had trouble coordinating schedules for tours. Rayna Gellert and Abigail Washburn left the band on amicable terms to pursue their other musical projects. The new Uncle Earl line up is Andreassen, Groves, Stephanie Coleman on fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, Paula Bradley on banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, banjo ukulele and clogging
Clogging
Clogging is a type of folk dance with roots in traditional European dancing, early African-American dance, and traditional Cherokee dance in which the dancer's footwear is used musically by striking the heel, the toe, or both in unison against a floor or each other to create audible percussive...
, and Rachel Eddy on banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, and bass.
Bass players
For nearly four years Amanda Kowalski played upright bassDouble bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
with Uncle Earl. Sharon Gilchrist
Sharon Gilchrist
Sharon Gilchrist is an American bluegrass musician, singer, and the sister of Troy Gilchrist, also a bluegrass musician..-Youth:...
joined the band in late 2004 and can be heard on the seven song EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Raise a Ruckus. There is a rather long list of other bassists with whom Uncle Earl have performed. On their website they mention Eric Thorin, Sally Truitt, Erin Coats Youngberg, Alana Rocklin, Mary Lucey, Bryn Davies
Bryn Davies (musician)
Bryn Davies is an American bassist, cellist, and occasional pianist. She grew up in Livermore, California. In 1997 she majored in Jazz Performance at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. There she met mandolin player Billy Bright and guitarist Brian Smith, with whom she formed...
, Laura Cortese
Laura Cortese
Laura Cortese is an American singer, songwriter, and fiddler. She was born in San Francisco and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she is currently based....
, Kyle Kegerreis, Missy Raines
Missy Raines
Missy Raines is a bassist. She has achieved acclaim in the world of bluegrass, including seven International Bluegrass Music Association Bass Player of the Year awards...
, and Dan Rose, with whom they have recorded their album She Waits for Night. Youngberg and Thorin play bass on the album Waterloo, Tennessee.
Sharon Gilchrist
Sharon Gilchrist
Sharon Gilchrist is an American bluegrass musician, singer, and the sister of Troy Gilchrist, also a bluegrass musician..-Youth:...
left the band in early 2005 to play mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
in the Peter Rowan and Tony Rice
Tony Rice
Tony Rice is an American acoustic guitarist and bluegrass musician. He is considered one of the most influential acoustic guitar players in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and acoustic jazz.Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from traditional bluegrass to jazz-influenced New...
Quartet.
However Sharon Gilchrist played again at their 2010 Australian Tour.
Rachel Eddy joined so K.C. Groves took over the Bass mostly.
She Went Upstairs
January 2002 (Jo Serrapere)- Charlie He's a Good Ol' Man
- The Blackest Crow
- Orphan Train
- Dream My Girl
- Rubber Dolly
- Where the Soul of Man Never Dies
- Baby
- Lost Child
- Over in the Glory Land
- The Fox
- Snow White Dove
- Freight Train
Going to the Western Slope-EP
July 2004 (Uncle Earl)- Coffee's Cold - Tater Patch
- Pale Moon
- Backstep Cindy
- Going to the West
- Coon Dog
- Keys to the Kingdom
Raise A Ruckus (EP)
December 2004 (Uncle Earl)- Raise a Ruckus
- Stacker LeeStagger Lee (song)"Stagger Lee", also known as "Stagolee", "Stackerlee", "Stack O'Lee", "Stack-a-Lee" and several other variants, is a popular folk song based on the murder of William "Billy" Lyons by Stagger Lee Shelton...
- Little Annie
- Julianne Johnson
- Walker
- Keys To The Kingdom
- The Izze Jingle
She Waits For Night
July 2005 (Rounder Records)- Walkin' in My Sleep
- There Is A Time
- Sugar Babe
- Warfare
- Pale Moon
- Booth Shot Lincoln
- Willie Taylor
- Sullivan's Hollow
- How Long
- Old Bunch of Keys
- Sleepy Desert
- Divine
- Ida RedIda Red"Ida Red" is an American traditional song of unknown origins. It is chiefly identified by variations of the chorus:Verses are unrelated, rather humorous, and free form, changing from performance to performance. Ida Red's identity is unknown, but is feminine in most uses.The earliest recording is a...
- Take These Chains
Waterloo, Tennessee
March 2007 (Rounder Records)- Black-Eyed Susie - (trad., arr. Uncle Earl)
- The Last Goodbye - (Ted Piney & Uncle Earl)
- One True - (Kristin Andreassen, Eric Merrill & Abigail Washburn)
- Wish I Had My Time Again - (trad., words & arr. Uncle Earl)
- My Little Carpenter (trad., arr. Uncle Earl)
- My Epitaph - (Ola Belle ReedOla Belle ReedOla Belle Campbell Reed was an American folk singer, songwriter and banjo player. Born in Lansing, North Carolina, Reed's songs often speak of Appalachian life and traditions. Her best known songs have been recorded by mainstream bluegrass and country artists...
) - Buonaparte - (public domain, arr. Uncle Earl)
- Bony on the Isle of St. Helena - (trad., arr. Uncle Earl)
- Sisters of the Road - (Rayna Gellert, arr. Uncle Earl)
- Streak o' Lean, Streak o' Fat (a.k.a Hongshao Rou) - (music: trad., words: Abigail Washburn & Jon Campbell, arr. Uncle Earl)
- D & P Blues - (Uncle Earl)
- The Birds Were Singing of You - (A. P. CarterA. P. CarterAlvin Pleasant Delaney Carter , best known as A.P. Carter, was an American musician and founding member of The Carter Family, one of the most notable acts in the history of country music.-Life:...
) - WallflowerWallflower (Bob Dylan song)"Wallflower" is a song written and recorded in 1971 by Bob Dylan. Dylan's own recording, however, was not released until twenty years later as part of The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 1961–1991. The song was recorded, with Dylan's backing vocal, for Doug Sahm's 1973 recording Doug Sahm and his Band...
- (Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
) - Drinker Born - (Rayna Gellert, arr. Uncle Earl)
- Easy in the Early ('Til Sundown) - (Kristin Andreassen & Uncle Earl)
- I May Never - (K.C. Groves, Carol Groves & Uncle Earl)