There's always a prelude. The Red Clay Ramblers never just break
into song. With fiddles and percussive clip-clops, they warm the
audience into hoots, hollers, and contagious claps within minutes of
taking the stage. A musical allusion to the show to follow.
And there's always a show. The Red Clay Ramblers never do
straightforward concerts. They're atypically theatrical, with each
member playing himself loosely based on a character. Their fourth wall
is more like a see-through scrim that's quickly flown out to facilitate
audience participation.
The Red Clay Ramblers never label themselves. Their catalog includes
everything from an operatic parody to a song referencing a talking
bullfrog and sprawling kudzu. After 35 years, this Tony Award-winning
Carolina string band remains the most "nonstring band" string band
you'll ever see.
What did Cleopatra say to Anthony when they met?
She hollered wahoo,
wahoo, wahoo. What did the roamin' Romeo mention to his Juliet?
He
whispered wahoo, wahoo, wahoo.
- "Wahoo"
Burning up his chin-clamped fiddle, lead singer Clay Buckner shows off
his chops in the wooing song "Wahoo," an upbeat ditty that frequently
opens Ramblers' shows. To his right, Chris Frank begins an endless
shuffle from accordion to guitar to trombone to tuba and back again.
"I'm the utility player. The junk man," he says.
Chris could only be upstaged by Jack Herrick, a tall, skinny fellow
bobbing behind his stand-up bass. His shaggy, salt-and-pepper mane
bounces with each pluck.
"Wahoo" is a perfect introduction to the boys—before the real
introductions.
"Mr. Simpson wears a necktie. It's a symbol of power in the group," Clay
says sarcastically. Bland Simpson is an easy target. Buttoned up in a
vest and bow tie, the pianist appears to be a bowler hat away from a gig
in a spaghetti Western saloon.
He read the menu through
and through
To see what fifteen cents would
do. One meatball, one meatball
He couldn't afford but one meatball.
- "One Meatball"
