VIDEO: Get to know the Red Clay Ramblers with our Editor, Tanner Latham Special thanks to the Red Clay Ramblers and the North Carolina Ballet for additional photography.

Jack Henrick Bass, Trumpet, Guitar, Bouzouki, Whistles

Bland Simpson Piano

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"

Chris Frank Accordion, Guitar, Tuba, Uke, Trombone

Clay Buckner Fiddle, Mandolin, Harmonica

The Ramblers blur the already blurry lines separating bluegrass, gospel, mountain music, rock, country, and Dixieland. "I would say generally, our image is a string band from North Carolina gone slightly off," says Jack.

Don't forget jazz. The sinister, sly number, "One Meatball," features horns and hearkens the ghost of Cab Calloway. It could have easily been picked from a musical, a completely different genre they've successfully traversed.

Their Tony Award came eight years ago for their part in the Broadway show Full Moon. Randy Quaid will lead the cast in the Ramblers' own Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas, opening on Broadway next month. They also collaborated with the late Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette on Kudzu: A Southern Musical. They incited audience participation when performing with the Carolina Ballet. Yes, a ballet. "We got them hollering in the middle of the performance," says Bland.

We're only asking for some peaceable pets You gonna deny a dog to a WWII vet? I got my baby, got my wife, but it's only half a life without a dog. — "Half a Life Without a Dog"

The guys project a wry and dry wit. Bland sets up "Half a Life Without a Dog" by telling the story that after WWII, the military boys who enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill were prohibited from keeping dogs in their dorm. "It's our only protest song," Bland says.

"We're slow to anger," quips Jack.

Neuse River, you big old stream. Neuse River, hope you understand, I want you to be the river. We want the river of our dreams. — "Neuse River"

Despite the Ramblers' unconventional take on the string band setup, they do hold fast to the distinctly string bandy formula of balancing novelty songs with ballads. Bland's homage to the Neuse River flows with just the right amount of sentiment. (Pun unavoidable.)

"People enjoy hearing other people around them laughing," says Bland. "It makes them think they're seeing something better. And they just might be."

For upcoming performances visit www.redclayramblers.com.

"Still Rambling" is from the November 2007 issue of Southern Living.