The Red Clay Ramblers are a

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

-based band founded in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

, performing continuously since their formation in 1972. The current touring band has been together since 1987, with Jack Herrick (

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, bass), Bland Simpson (

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

), Clay Buckner (

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

), and Chris Frank (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

). The original members included Mike Craver (

) Tommy Thompson (

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

), Bill Hicks (

), and Jim Watson (

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, bass).

Career

Mike Craver joined Red Clay Ramblers in 1973, and recorded with them on their first record, which was released by Folkways under the title ''The Red Clay Ramblers with Fiddlin' Al McCanless.'' The quartet continued their recording career with ''Stolen Love'' on the

Flying Fish The Exocoetidae are a family of marine fish in the order Beloniformes class Actinopterygii, known colloquially as flying fish or flying cod. About 64 species are grouped in seven to nine genera. While they cannot fly in the same way a bird do ...

label, recorded in 1974 and released in 1975 during their successful run in "Diamond Studs." Jack Herrick joined the band in 1976 as a bass and trumpet player. The band recorded, concertized and performed in theatrical productions, most notably ''Diamond Studs'' (Bland Simpson/Jim Wann) off-Broadway in 1975. Their 1977 recording, ''Merchants Lunch'', described a

trucker A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster, or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; a HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

's disastrous visit to a

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

diner A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a com ...

. (The diner still exists at the same location, but has been renamed the "Merchant's Restaurant"). The recordings produced by the Red Clay Ramblers during their first decade include ''Stolen Love,'' ''Twisted Laurel,'' ''Merchants Lunch,'' ''Meeting in the Air,'' ''Chuckin' the Frizz,'' and ''Hard Times,'' all on the Flying Fish label, and all available as CDs through

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

. The first decade of the Ramblers also produced album-collaborations with other musicians, including Debby McClatchy in 1976 and

Si Kahn Si Kahn (born April 23, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter, activist, and founder and former executive director of Grassroots Leadership. Biography Early life and education Kahn grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, United States. When ...

in 1981. ''Chuckin' the Frizz'' is noteworthy as a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

. ''Meeting'' is an album of all Carter Family songs featuring the singing of Tommy Thompson, Mike Craver, and Jim Watson. These early albums featured several writing collaborations by Mike Craver and Tommy Thompson, the most "famous" of which are "Merchants Lunch" and "The Ace." Debby McClatchy recorded Hicks' most infamous original composition, "You Were Only F**king, While I Was Making Love." Fiddler Clay Buckner joined the band when fiddler Bill Hicks left the band in 1981. The Red Clay Ramblers continued to perform steadily, including an Off-Broadway production of

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any write ...

's ''Lie of the Mind'' in 1985–86. Following that production the personnel of the group changed, with

Shawn Colvin Shawn Colvin (born Shawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. While Colvin has been a solo recording artist for decades, she is best known for her 1998 Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home". Early ...

and Bland Simpson replacing Watson and Craver. Colvin left the band August 1987, replaced by Chris Frank on guitar-accordion-tuba. The lineup of Thompson, Herrick, Buckner, Simpson and Frank toured internationally from 1987 through 1993, including scoring two Sam Shepard movies (''Far North'', 1988 and ''Silent Tongue'', 1994). They acted in ''Silent Tongue'', appearing as an 1870s medicine show band, where they met clowns

Bill Irwin William Mills Irwin (born April 11, 1950) is an American actor, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performer and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He has made a n ...

and David Shiner and spawned the seeds of what became '' Fool Moon'', which they first performed on Broadway between February and September 1993. ''Fool Moon'' returned to Broadway twice more (1995, 1998) and won a Special Tony Award in June, 1999. Founder Tommy Thompson, who retired from the band at the end of 1993, suffering from Alzheimers, died on January 24, 2003. The band continues to perform and record as a quartet, with banjoist Rick Good of Dayton, Ohio, and drummer Rob Ladd, including composed works for the

Atlanta Ballet Atlanta Ballet is a ballet company, located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the longest continuously performing ballet company in the United States and the State Ballet of Georgia. History Atlanta Ballet was founded in 1929 by Dorothy Alexander as ...

(2003) and the

Carolina Ballet Carolina Ballet is one of America’s premier arts organizations, programming traditional ballets by legendary masters and new works by contemporary choreographers. The Ballet was launched as a professional company in 1998 under the direction of F ...

(2005), and the musical "Lone Star Love" off Broadway in 2004–2005Red Clay Ramblers Papers Inventory (#4756)
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Partial discography

* ''The Red Clay Ramblers with Fiddlin' Al McCanless'' (1974) * ''Stolen Love'' (1975) * ''Twisted Laurel'' (1976) * ''Debby McClatchy with the Red Clay Ramblers'' ( Innisfree/Green Linnet, 1976) * ''Merchants Lunch'' (1977) * ''Chuckin' the Frizz'' (1979) * ''Hard Times'' (1981) * ''It Ain't Right'' (1986) * ''The Music of Sam Shepard's 'A Lie of a Mind (1986) * ''Sam Shepard's 'Far North (1989) * ''Rambler'' ( Sugar Hill, 1992) * ''Yonder'' (2002) * ''Kudzu'' (2003) * ''Rambleshoe'' (2005) * ''Lone Star Love'' (2006) * ''Fool Moon'' * ''The Music'' (2007) * ''Old North State'' (2009)

References

External links

Inventory of the Red Clay Ramblers Papers, 1970s-1990s
in the

Southern Historical Collection The Southern Historical Collection is a repository of distinct archival collections at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which document the culture and history of the American South. These collections are made up of unique primary mat ...

, UNC-Chapel Hill
The Red Clay Ramblers official website

The Red Clay Ramblers First 10 Years
Musical groups established in 1972 Old-time bands American folk musical groups Country music groups from North Carolina American fiddlers Old-time fiddlers Culture of Durham, North Carolina Green Linnet Records artists {{authority control