The Red Clay Ramblers: North Carolina's Tony Award-winning String Band

JUNE 8th, 2013: THE RAMBLERS CONGRATULATE AND SALUTE NORTH CAROLINA'S TONY AWARD-WINNING SYMPHONIC DRAMA "THE LOST COLONY," NOW IN ITS 76th YEAR!

     "A great American band!" -- Sam Shepard

     "Wonderful!" -- Garrison Keillor, A Prairie Home Companion

     "The house band of North Carolina!"  -- Martin Anderson, WNCW

     "The Red Clay Ramblers gave a rollicking, refreshing, and raucous performance at the University of Richmond's Modlin Center for the Arts. The full house roared their approval, and demanded encores. It was one of the best shows of the season!" -Steve Allred, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Richmond

      “A musical group whose eclectic repertory is that of a fantasy roadhouse band from a vanished rural America. Bluegrass, New Orleans, classical folk and gospel sounds emerge in nutty profusion from these talented instrumentalists and singers, whose music making is perfection.” -- The New York Times

     "The Red Clay Ramblers were formed as a traditional string band in North Carolina in 1972 but soon brought a theatrical sensibility to their music-making, teaming up with Sam Shepard for his Off Broadway play 'A Lie of the Mind' in the eighties and scoring a couple of his films. The Ramblers earned a special Tony in the nineties for their collaboration with Bill Irwin and David Shiner on 'Fool Moon,' and continue to invest their country with a little neon."                             -- The New Yorker

     "PlayMakers Repertory Company has a hit with 'Big River,' the Tony Award-winning musical based on Mark Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn.' Performances have been added and are selling out.  The show's built-in appeal stems from the universal popularity of Twain's comically observant novel and the irresistible twang of Roger Miller's songs. With this production's inclusion of the beloved Red Clay Ramblers, and a cast and crew of PlayMakers' best, anticipation was already high.  Happily, the production fulfills its promise."   -- The News & Observer

More quotes...

NC Bookwatch: Bland Simpson, "Two Captains from Carolina"

Watch Bland Simpson, Two Captains from Carolina on PBS. See more from NC Bookwatch.

"Old North State", the Album

Old North State - The Red Clay Ramblers

In stock and shipping, an all new studio recording of songs and tunes with a Tar Heel taste!

Old North State

More info - order here

Preview  North Carolina Toast and Breakdown: 

RCR On Mountain Stage

Listen to the entire performance of our recent visit to Mountain Stage! Go here for the streaming audio of our set and links to the series. Thanks to Larry Groce and company, presenting an exceptional radio show for 25 years. 

Listen to performance / Mountain Stage Website

Raleigh News & Observer: Red Clay Ramblers mark 4 decades of fresh, lively folk music

Photo by Chuck Liddy

David Menconi / Raleigh News & Observer / 09/01/2012 / Photo by Chuck Liddy

CHATHAM COUNTY -- To hear the Red Clay Ramblers play is to get an education, even when they’re just warming up. A recent evening found the hyper-eclectic band’s core four – fiddler Clay Buckner, pianist Bland Simpson and multi-instrumentalists Chris Frank and Jack Herrick – casually arrayed in the studio behind Herrick’s house.

Between digressive discussions about barbecue, long-ago gigs, porcine anatomy, smallpox vaccines and the inherent appeal of Tina Fey, the Ramblers worked up some tunes for an upcoming folk-festival date, displaying impressive off-the-cuff virtuosity. First up was an old Irish reel, proceeding at an amiable lope with Buckner’s fiddle seeming to dance atop Frank’s accordion and Simpson’s piano.

Read more....

Concert, Festival and Stage: Please Join Us!

Please join us at one of these events in 2013-14; also noted are events of individual Red Clay Ramblers in other settings:

June 16th, 2013:  The Red Clay Ramblers in Concert, The Rooster's Wife, Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen, NC

August 17th, 2013: The Red Clay Ramblers in Concert, Joy Performance Center, Kings Mountain, NC 

September 27th, 2013: The Red Clay Ramblers in Concert, Town Square Summer Concert Series Closing Show, Jonesborough, Tennessee (7-9 pm);

November 15th, 2013: The Red Clay Ramblers in Concert, Carolina Theatre, Durham, NC 

Feb 27th-28th, 2014: Coastal Cohorts / "King Mackerel & The Blues Are Running" in Concert, Historic Playmakers Theatre, UNC Campus, Chapel Hill, NC