HISTORY
1972...

The Music
Photo Album
Blurred Time
(Bill's history of the band)
Site Map
(All we offer at a glance)
Diamond Studs
(Their first NY musical)
Souvenirs
(Articles, flyers, calendars)
Chronology
Poster Gallery
Fuzzy Mountain String Band
Hollow Rock String Band

The Original* 
Red Clay Ramblers, Portable Folk Festival 1976, Courtesy of Photographer Cece Conway
NOW
...today

Home
* Performance Calendar *
The Music
Latest News
Recent Concert Pics
Individual O'Blurs
(buttons below their picture)
What's New (site log)
Links
Jesse's Letters
(Tommy's daughter writes)

"...the legendary Red Clay Ramblers... the much-loved Triangle area band that set the standard for acoustic fusion, melding bluegrass with jazz and rock long before anyone else had thought of it."...Ogi Overman, ESP Magazine, Greensboro NC

"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!...the Red Clay Ramblers are authentic...they play like angels auditioning for Gabriel"...Clive Barnes, NY Times

"their traditional material is refreshingly original, while their original songs manage to keep an old-time flavor" ...Wheatland Festival

“the finest old time string band now playing anywhere”...Folk Life magazine

"Their music is a living, ongoing, growing continuation and recreation of history, a breathing flesh-and-blood museum." ...Ed Davis, Daily News

"One of the most versatile bands in the business ... consistently high standard of quality"...MusicHound Country: The Essential Album Guide

Mike
Craver

Jim
Watson

Bill
Hicks

Jack
Herrick

Tommy
Thompson
They were gods in Johnson City...
The Red Clay Ramblers began in 1972 as a trio of musicians who had been playing in and around Chapel Hill, N.C.  The original lineup included Tommy Thompson, Jim Watson, and Bill Hicks, with Mike Craver joining in 1973.  The fifth "original," Jack Herrick, the only link to the current Red Clay Ramblers, joined in 1976.

 "...a most excellent original Red Clay Ramblers site
 (with) loads of great information"
...Keith Weston -- folk music director, WUNC-FM 91.5 Chapel Hill 
Please sign our guestbook!  It's time we heard what you think or what we can do for you.  Were you there when the Red Clay Ramblers recorded Chuckin' the Frizz live?  Or did you follow them before they were gods in Johnson City? Are you ready to petition Rounder Records to release Frizz, Stolen Love, Meeting in the Air, and Hard Times on CD? Tell all.
Sign My GuestbookView My Guestbook
*These pages are a fan's effort to honor the Red Clay Ramblers as they existed from 1972-1981 and to follow the careers of the original musicians after they left RCR. The band is still going strong with Jack Herrick of the "original" group. Check the Red Clay Ramblers Official Homepage for more on this great band.


RCR_fan@hotmail.com
May 31, 2007

 "America's premier whatzit band" ...Audio magazine

"The Red Clay Ramblers must have the highest aggregate IQ and the most university degrees of any string band that ever lived" ...Hal Crowther, Oxford American

"the quintessential roots band" ...Green Man Review

"One of the most authentic of the string - band revival groups...such talent and authority that for years they have been considered among the best of the modern revivalists of string - band music"...tunes.com

"old-timey visionaries" ...Bill Ellis, GoMemphis.com

"The best old-time music show bar none of the folkie revival of the seventies." ...John McLaughlin, "Roots and Wings" WESS Pennsylvania

"The Ramblers really have something for everyone -- they are bawdy, bright, funny and establish instant rapport with their audience." ...Joe Wilson, executive director, National Folk Festival Association

"A band that might have existed in 1930, but didn't."...Original fiddler Bill Hicks