'Oil City Symphony' is hip with its squares in Fullerton
By Daryl H. Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 16, 2008

Why are there no football geeks? It's always the band kids -- and their artsy or brainy compatriots -- who are made to seem out of step.

Well, no more. The band kids, now grown, are pretty cool nowadays at Oil City High School, where four tremendously talented, if undeniably nerdy, alums are making a return appearance.  READ MORE!

    From the Why Old Time? website: We began with a simple question:  why Old Time? 

    What we have found is that Old Time music just isn't a sound.  It's a lifestyle.  It's living history.  And the fans of old time music are what drives it ever forward while preserving an untarnished musical tradition. 

    Horse Archer Productions is pleased to announce a full length documentary called Why Old Time? which will explore the beauty and art of Old Time music and attempt to explain why this particular type of roots music holds such power. 

   Bill Hicks will be interviewed for this movie which is in production through this summer.  Keep watching for updates.
 

Hard Times and Chuckin' the Frizz CDs are here!

Rounder re-issued the Red Clay Ramblers HARD TIMES and CHUCKIN' THE FRIZZ albums as limited edition CDs as part of their Rounder Archive series this summer. 

CHUCKIN' THE FRIZZ, recorded live at the Cat's Cradle in 1979, is considered by many to be the original line-up's finest release.  We have a special page for the honors, accolades, reviews and souvenirs for Frizz.  Read it and get excited with us!

"Red Clay Ramblers, Chuckin' the Frizz -- Any true Ramblers fan knows that this all-too-rare release marks the band's finest hour on record, a well-produced live recording of the rollicking 1979 lineup performing at the old, tinier Cat's Cradle. This is a superior string band at the height of its powers, spinning out traditionals and originals with inspired, infectious fervor." [more]

...Durham Independent 2003

"This is a superbly produced set with a superior recorded sound, fully capturing the rich overtones in the blend of stringed instruments and piano. Craver has never sounded better, and neither has Tommy Thompson, whose voice and banjo playing are adept and gorgeous. His ballad "Hot Buttered Rum" is wonderful, and this moving performance is one of the Red Clay Ramblers' best recorded moments." [more]

...Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide.

Joe Newberryand his Two Hands make all the music on his new solo CD, recorded in a day and a half and with live takes (no overdubbing or effects), just like they used to do it.  We especially liked his original songs (highlighted by "I Know Whose Tears") and the Christmas Trilogy finale ("Christmas Eve, "On This Christmas Day," and "Breaking Up Christmas."  Click on the cover to be swept over to Joe's website to get your own copy straight from the source.

Dirty Linen, August/September 2005 reviewed by Duck Baker, London, England
One of the best of the many tributes to the Carters that have appeared over the years was recorded in l980 by three members of that unique and wonderful outfit known as the Red Clay Ramblers. It's interesting neither Jim Watson, Tommy Thompson, nor Mike Craver play very much on mandolin, banjo, or piano here, though Thompson does pick up the five-string at times. The main instrument is the guitar, which both Watson and Craver handle nicely in the appropriate Carter style. The main focus is on the vocals, and they are just gorgeous. The leads are heartfelt, the harmonies just right, and the blend reflects all the years these guys had worked together. A variety of approaches is used, and all reflect a deep understanding of and feeling for the music.

Can 25 years really have passed since this record was made? Has Tommy Thompson really, truly gone on, perhaps to sing his parts with Sara, Maybelle and A.P.? Well, we have to believe it, apparently, which makes the reissue of Meeting in the Air that much more welcome. When it first appeared, everyone agreed that this was a great record. Now it seems something more that that, a classic. 

"Morris Family Old Time Music Festival"
a film by Robert Gates
Special Collectors Edition now available!

Tommy Thompson, Bill Hicks, and Eric Olson on stage at Ivydale, WVa in 1972 with many more of the most important traditional musicians of that time

"In the late '60s and early '70s, there was an area revival in old-time music, which brought fiddling and bluegrass traditions down from the Appalachian mountains. The Hollow Rock String Band formed at the Hollow Rock store between Durham and Chapel Hill; the Fuzzy Mountain String Band followed shortly thereafter. In 1972, banjo master Tommy Thompson and two others formed the Red Clay Ramblers, a legendary string band that mixed traditional and contemporary compositions for heel-stomping, toe-tapping national success (they even took their show to Broadway). Still around in various incarnations, individual members of the "Blurs," (a fan nickname for the Ramblers) have gone on to dozens of side projects and, in the process, have created a fearsome and thriving scene in and of themselves."

"Red Clay Ramblers, Chuckin' the Frizz -- Any true Ramblers fan knows that this all-too-rare release marks the band's finest hour on record, a well-produced live recording of the rollicking 1979 lineup performing at the old, tinier Cat's Cradle. This is a superior string band at the height of its powers, spinning out traditionals and originals with inspired, infectious fervor."

New Chuckin' the Frizz pages!  Rounder re-released Frizz on CD in the fall of 2006.  We've beefed up the sparse book that comes with the CD.

Thanks to Libby Hicks generously mailing us all of Bill's scrapbooks, you'll see lots of new souvenirs on the site.  Stir up some great old memories with these new additions.  We've added a posters section for national gigs, Diamond Studs, and international gigs.  Then read what might be the best review ever written of a Red Clay Ramblers show from The Folk Life, March 1977, "The Red Clay Ramblers at Godfrey Daniels."  You'll believe you were there.  Best quote: "Mercy!"

Our site here is over five years old.  By the size of it, you'd think we'd told the whole story.  But a casual eBay magazine purchase yielded important insights lacking before.  In Option Music Alternatives "Going Through Stages: the Many Careers of the Red Clay Ramblers," (March/April, 1988) Tommy Thompson reveals how the band attracted Sam Shepard's interest and what it was like to collaborate with him.  Roger Miller sampled the band, but spit them back out.  But Eugene Chadbourne not only recorded with RCR, but they also played at his wedding.  If that's not enough, Tommy also delves into RCR's pushing the limits of tradtional music.
**And now Eugene Chadbourne is writing for the All Music Guide and reviewing RCR recordings, musicians, Fuzzy Mountain String Band, and the Hollow Rock String Band

How about signing the guest books for the Original Red Clay Ramblers site AND for Tommy Thompson's memory?

Ever wonder if the Red Clay Ramblers had proof of being "gods in Johnson City"?  How about four encores at the Down Home after the hour the beer stopped!  Read the evidence in this 1977 Pickin' review and interview.

Santa Mike Craver sends us pics from his scrapbooks.  The latest are early Red Clay Ramblers clippings as well as the Winnipeg Folk Festival.  Did you know the Red Clay Ramblers were on the soap opera Ryan's Hope? Or that they they did Shakespeare?  Go see!  And he sent along a couple of 70's concert ads from the Village Voice and the NY Times.  The Ramblers were in good company.  For a recent look, see Jim's Christmas 2000 pics and a 1997 benefit for Tommy.  Browse through the Photo Album which now features pics from the good ol' days and these good days, too.