King Wilkie is an American music group formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2002 by Reid Burgess and Ted Pitney. While their early sound was commonly filed under bluegrass, the group has continually defied expectations, drawing from other influences, such as

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

and

Americana music Americana (also known as American roots music) is an amalgam of American music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the musical ethos of the United States, specifically those sounds that are emerged from the ...

. They have released three albums.

History

Formed in Charlottesville, VA, in 2003, bluegrass sextet King Wilkie boast the talents of Reid Burgess John McDonald, Ted Pitney, Abe Spear, Nick Reeb, and Drew Breakey. Pitney and Burgess dedicated themselves to the genre after attending a festival while at college in Ohio. After relocating to Virginia in 2001 they recruited the remaining members and began work on their 2003 debut, the live and independent True Songs, with their studio debut, Broke, following in 2004. After releasing their 2004 debut album on

Rebel Records Rebel Records is an independent American record label based in Charlottesville, Virginia that specializes in bluegrass and old time music. The label was founded in Mount Rainier, Maryland in 1959 by Dick Freeland, Bill Carroll and Sonny Compto ...

, Broke, the group was hailed by bluegrass purists as the music's great young hope. Their second album, ''Low Country Suite'', released in 2007 on Rounder Records was a stylistic departure produced by engineer Jim Scott, well known for his work with

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, and the

Dixie Chicks The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and ...

. King Wilkie has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. In 2005 the band performed at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival. Appearances on

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, and Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble, combined with festival performances and radio airplay have fueled the band's popularity, eventually resulting in their album ''Low Country Suite'' climbing into the top 20 on the Billboard charts for Americana music. In 2008 all members, with the exception of Burgess, left King Wilkie. Burgess attempted to keep the band going with new members and on April 28, 2009, King Wilkie released ''King Wilkie Presents: The Wilkie Family Singers'', an expansive concept album on the newly minted Casa Nueva label which was even a bigger departure from the band's bluegrass roots. Consisting of songs written and recorded by the fictional Wilkie family, it is their most wide-ranging and ambitious project yet. The album features a core sound of rickety old-time American music, embroidered with Salvation Army brass, quirky melodies, and an almost cinematic sense of scope. It also features special guests

Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...

David Bromberg David Bromberg (born September 19, 1945) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. David Bromberg biographyat Billboard.com An eclectic artist, Bromberg plays bluegrass, blues, folk, jazz, country and western, and rock a ...

Peter Rowan Peter Rowan (born July 4, 1942) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. Rowan plays guitar and mandolin, yodels and sings. Biography Rowan was born in Wayland, Massachusetts to a musical family. From an early age, he had an interest ...

Abigail Washburn Abigail Washburn (born November 10, 1977) is an American clawhammer banjo player and singer. She performs and records as a soloist, as well as with the old-time music, old-time bands Uncle Earl and Sparrow Quartet, experimental group The Wu For ...

and others.

Band name

The band is named after Bill Monroe's horse "King Wilkie".

Honors, awards, and distinctions

*King Wilkie's 2004 debut ''Broke'' remained No. 1 on the Bluegrass album chart for several weeks. *King Wilkie were named IBMA's Emerging Artist Of The Year in 2004.RECIPIENT HISTORY - IBMA AWARDS
International Bluegrass Music Association official webpage. *Made their debut on

at the

Ryman Auditorium Ryman Auditorium (also known as Grand Ole Opry House and Union Gospel Tabernacle) is a 2,362-seat live-performance venue located at 116 Rep. John Lewis Way North, in Nashville, Tennessee. It is best known as the home of the ''Grand Ole Opry'' fr ...

in 2005. *On April 14, 2006 King Wilkie appeared with Ralph Stanley at The Town Hall in New York City. *In 2006 King Wilkie released an EP Tierra del Fuego, recorded in Nashville. *In 2007 King Wilkie released Low Country Suite, recorded in Los Angeles. *On June 22, 2010 a project titled ''Wilkie Family Singers Live'' was released as a digital download.

References

External links

kingwilkie.com
(official site)
kingwilkie.net
(forum)

{{Authority control Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups from Virginia American bluegrass music groups Rebel Records artists Zoë Records artists