The Red Clay Ramblers are a fun bunch. “Though they’re a walking encyclopedia of Americana,” says the Greensboro News & Record, they “never forget they're up there to entertain.” And entertain they do, with a repertoire that includes bluegrass, blues, folk, and gospel, and a healthy dose of homespun wit and charm. The band features Jack Herrick on bass, trumpet, guitar, bouzouki, and whistles, Clay Buckner on fiddle, mandolin, and harmonica, Chris Frank on accordion, guitar, tuba, ukelele, and trombone, and Bland Simpson on piano. They all sing – and they all talk! They tell funny stories and mix their music with just the right amount of mayhem and magic. The Nashville Tennessean calls them “acoustic music greats.” Their “music making is perfection,” opines the New York Times. “Irresistible,” says New York Newsday.

The band formed in Durham, North Carolina in 1972, and the lineup has changed over the years. Chris is the new guy. He joined the band in 1987 when Shawn Colvin left to pursue a solo career. The band has enjoyed a long and rewarding association with Sam Shepard, appearing in his play A Lie of the Mind off Broadway in 1985, scoring his film Far North in 1988, and appearing in his second film, Silent Tongue, in 1994. The band won a Tony Award for their collaboration with Bill Irwin and David Shiner on the Broadway production of Fool Moon, which also ran in Vienna, Munich, and at the Geary Theater in San Francisco. They’ve appeared often on A Prairie Home Companion and Mountain Stage, and they continue to make great music and give their audiences a great time. “The playing is better now than it’s ever been,” Chris told his local paper, the News & Observer. “We are unique in what we do, a niche of one. We’re not a bluegrass band or a string band or an old-time band or a Dixieland band, but all that and more. The bottom line is we like each other and have fun when we play. I feel like our best music is still to be played. I feel pretty good about that.”

Visit the Red Clay Ramblers' website