- Coal Porters
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Coal Porters Origin Los Angeles, California, USA Genres Bluegrass Labels Prima Associated acts The Long Ryders Website www.myspace.com/thecoalporters Members Sid Griffin
Neil Robert Herd
Carly Frey
Andrew Stafford
John BreeseThe Coal Porters are a British-American bluegrass band headquartered in London and led by Sid Griffin (mandolin, autoharp, harmonica and vocals) and Neil Robert Herd (guitar and vocals) The other members are Carly Frey (fiddle, vocals), John Breese (banjo, vocals), and Andrew Stafford (bass, vocals).[1] Griffin formed the group in Los Angeles in 1989 and then reorganized the band after moving to London.[2][not in citation given]
Griffin was a founding member of The Long Ryders, and the author of Shelter From The Storm: Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Years, Million Dollar Bash: Bob Dylan, The Band and The Basement Tapes, co-author of Bluegrass Guitar: Know the Players, Play the Music and Gram Parsons – A Music Biography. He has contributed reviews and feature articles to Mojo, Q, The Guardian and appears every six weeks on BBC Radio 2 to discuss cultural changes on the Mark Radcliffe-Stuart Maconie Show.[3]
Neil Robert Herd, in addition to his career as a musician, has performed as a comedian, and finished second to Stewart Lee as the Best New Stand-Up Comedian at the Hackney Comedy Awards Festival in 1992. He has also promoted many British comedy, film and music festivals.[4]
Carly Frey has appeared with the Barrage, performing more than 300 dates a year throughout North America, Europe and Asia. She has also performed with the groups Abbi & Kikwetu, the Hootenannies, Gogo Simo, Jeremy Walsh and is a regular violinist/fiddler for the Soulforce Project.
Bassist Andrew Stafford for years played rockabilly with the Death Valley Surfers and indie rock with Grandads Don’t Indicate.
Banjoist John Breese has played with ‘Andsome and Some, Miles Apart, Banjo Accelerator, Shoot The Breese, The Wirtzels, The John Breese Trio and Kick Up the Grass.
Contents
History
Seven full-length albums and two EPs are credited to the Coal Porters. Their latest release (January 2010) is Durango on the Prima label, distributed in the UK by Proper and in the USA by Burnside. Veteran producer recorded the 12-track album in the Southern Colorado town for which the album is named. Tracks include No More Chains, Roadkill Breakdown featuring Tim O’Brien as guest mandolinist, and Peter Rowan’s Moonlight Midnight, with Rowan joining the Coal Porters for the session.
Their preceding CD, Turn The Water On, Boy! (2008), received four-star reviews in Mojo, Uncut, The Sunday Times, Maverick and Word magazines. The dozen-track album featured original songs by Griffin, Herd and other band members, as well as a bluegrass revamping of the Long Ryders’ Final Wild Son, a cover of former Byrds member Gene Clark’s Silver Raven and a guest appearance by another member of the Byrds, Chris Hillman who played mandolin on a tribute to Woody Guthrie. Earlier bluegrass-style Coal Porters’ albums are How Dark This Earth Will Shine (2004), with Peter Case and Amy Rigby as guests, and the live Chris Hillman Tribute Concerts (2001), featuring run-ups of songs from Hillman’s career with the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas and Desert Rose.[5]
The evolution to bluegrass from country-rock occurred after Griffin produced Lindisfarne’s Here Comes The Neighborhood album in 1998.[6] Inspired by that band’s acoustic instrumentation, he and Herd worked up bluegrass versions of their Coal Porters’ (and occasional Long Ryders’) repertoire and debuted them successfully at a London charity event for Children in Need at Royal Festival Hall.[7] The band's earlier country-rock albums are the following: the live Gram Parsons Tribute Concert (1999), EP Roulette (1998), Los London (1995), Land of Hope and Crosby (1994) and the initial EP Rebels Without Applause (1991).
Griffin formed The Coal Porters in 1989 following the demise of The Long Ryders. The Coal Porters, like their predecessors, initially demonstrated strong Byrds and Gram Parsons influences, playing country and country-rock songs written by Griffin with occasional collaborators.[8] Before the band’s initial lineup fell into place, a number of Griffin’s musician friends made appearances at early gigs and performed on first recordings, including drummer Greg Sowders from The Long Ryders and Billy Bremner of Rockpile.[2]
By 1991, the band had solidified with Griffin on lead vocals and guitar, Chris Buessem lead guitar, Ian Thomson bass, Billy Block drums and Andy Kaulkin keyboards. Tracks featuring this lineup appeared on the EP Rebels Without Applause, Land of Hope and Crosby and Los London. By then Griffin and Thomson had relocated to the United Kingdom, while Block opted for a career in Nashville and Kaulkin moved to the business side of music to run Epitaph Records and found the ANTI- label. Subsequent UK members have included Kevin Morris (Dr. Feelgood), John Bennett (High Llamas), Ian Gibbons (Kinks), and Rob Childs (Otis Lee Crenshaw).[2]
The Coal Porters
Origin Los Angeles, California, USA
Genres Alternative bluegrass
Years active 1989–present
Labels Prima Records, Temple Bar, Zuma, Rubber Records
Associated acts Western Electric, Long Ryders
Website Coal Porters [1]
Members
Sid Griffin
Neil Robert Herd
Carly Frey
Andrew Stafford
John Breese
Former members[9]
Dick Smith
Paul Sandy
Gemma White
Matt Woolvett
Pat McGarvey
Bob Stone
Andy Steele
Rob Childs
Will Morrison
Kevin Morris
Dave Morgan
Ian Gibbons
Graham Chesters
John Bennett
Ian Thomson
Chris Buessem
Andy Kaulkin
Billy Block
Henry Nield 'H'
Discography
Rebels Without Applause (1991)
Land of Hope and Crosby (1994)
Los London (1995)
EP Roulette (1998)
Gram Parsons Tribute Concert (1999)
Chris Hillman Tribute Concert (2001)
How Dark This Earth Will Shine (2004)
Turn the Water On, Boy (2008)
Durango (2010)
Video
Gram Parsons Tribute Concert (1999)
References
- ^ a b "Coal Porters website". Myspace.com. http://www.myspace.com/thecoalporters. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
- ^ a b c Wasserzieher, Bill (April 1995). "What a Long Strange Ryde It’s Been". http://www.rocksbackpages.com/.
- ^ "Sid Griffin website". Sidgriffin.com. http://www.sidgriffin.com. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
- ^ "Neil Robert Herd on MySpace". Myspace.com. http://www.myspace.com/neilbobherd. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
- ^ Allmusic.com[dead link]
- ^ Medicine, The (2009-10-31). "The Coal Porters Sid Griffin talks to Rob Ellen of The Medicine Show". No Depression. http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/blogs/the-coal-porters-sid-griffin. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
- ^ Brooks, Farleigh. "Beautiful dreamer". leoweekly.com. http://leoweekly.com/news-features/major-stories/features/beautiful-dreamer. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ Benz, Matthew (Jan-Feb 1997). "The Coal Porters – London calling". archives.nodepression.com. http://archives.nodepression.com/1997/01/london-calling/. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ Curley, Grant. Rebels Without Applause fanzine, issues 1-19
Related links
- The Coal Porters website
- "The Long Ryders op Myspace Music". Myspace.com. http://www.myspace.com/thelongryders. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
Categories:- American bluegrass music groups
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