Uncle Earl

Infobox musical artist
Name = Uncle Earl

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Img_capt = Uncle Earl; from left to right: Rayna Gellert, Abigail Washburn, KC Groves and Kristin Andreassen
Img_size =
Background = group_or_band
Alias =
Origin = United States
Genre = Americana
Old-time music
Years_active = 2000–Present
Label = Rounder
URL = [http://www.uncleearl.net/ uncleearl.net]
Associated_acts = Sparrow Quartet
Sometymes Why
Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble
Current_members = Kristin Andreassen
Rayna Gellert
KC Groves
Abigail Washburn
Past_members = Jo Serrapere
Tahmineh Gueramy
Amanda Kowalski
Sharon Gilchrist
Casey Henry
Sally Truitt

Uncle Earl is an American old-time music group, formed in 2000cite web | title=Uncle Earl FAQ | work=Uncle Earl | url=http://www.uncleearl.net/FAQ.htm | accessdate = 2007-06-12] 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". [cite web | title=Uncle Earl's Newsletter | work=Uncle Earl | url=http://uncleearl.net/news.htm | month = July | year = 2005 | accessdate = 2007-06-12]

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.

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." [cite web | title=Uncle Earl adds modern sass to old-time music | work=Real Country Music | url=http://realcountrymusic.org/cgi/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9384 | month = July | year = 2005 | accessdate = 2007-06-12]

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. [cite web | title=Uncle Earl biography | work=Uncle Earl | url=http://www.uncleearl.net/uncleearlbio.rounder.8.6.05.doc | month = July | year = 2005 | accessdate = 2007-06-12|format=DOC] . 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) [cite web | title=Uncle Earl in the web archive | url=http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://uncleearl.net | accessdate = 2007-09-30] .

Jo Serrapere left in 2003 and plays now with the Willie Dunns. [http://www.joserrapere.com Willie Dunns Band Website (accessed 9 April, 2008)] ]

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" [cite web | title=Raise a Ruckus Liner Notes | work=Uncle Earl | url=http://www.uncleearl.net/ruckus.htm | month = April | year = 2005 | accessdate = 2007-06-14] . 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" [cite web | title=Uncle Earl Newsletter Nov. 2004 | work=Uncle Earl | url=http://www.uncleearl.net/newsletterarchives/newsletternov04.htm | accessdate = 2007-06-12] . 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

he 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

he 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)

External links

* [http://www.uncleearl.net/ Uncle Earl's official site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/uncleearl Uncle Earl's myspace site]
*amg | id = 11:yh9us37qa3rg | label = Uncle Earl

Footnotes