Uncle Earl
is an American old-time music group, formed in 2000 [1] 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
. [2]
The band has released five records. The members live in different parts of the United States.
Their last CD, Waterloo, Tennessee
, was released in March 2007. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame produced the 16-song CD.
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UNCLE EARL TICKETS
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Name
KC Groves mentions 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 Scruggs,
Steve Earle, and
Uncle Tupelo. It did come up in our discussion that there's some important Earls in this business. And uncles."
[3]
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.
[4]. 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)
[5].
Jo Serrapere left in 2003 and plays now with the
Willie Dunns.
[6]
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. Currently there is no permanent
bass player.
Bass players
For nearly four years
Amanda Kowalski played
upright bass with Uncle Earl.
Sharon Gilchrist joined the band in late 2004 and can be heard on the seven song
EP Raise a Ruckus
[7]. 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
[8]. 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.
Discography
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
# Feight 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 Lee
# 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 Red
# 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 Reed)
# 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. Carter)
#
Wallflower - (
Bob Dylan)
# 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)