Rail Critters

(THIS EVENT IS OVER, FROM 2010)

potluck 6:30ish, music 8:30ish.

rsvp required.

email info@coloradograss.org if you’d like to be invited for the first time.

Invitations have been sent, and seats are filling up! There are a few left but don’t wait! We will post it as sold out on this page when the time comes.

Wild Earl is an overnight success thirteen years in the making.

The musical, vocal duo of K.C. Groves and Betse Ellis met at a late-night old-time jam in West Virginia in 1998.

In 2010, they shared a stage at Oskar Blues in Lyons, Colorado where their audience happily sang and danced to the “traditional” sound of a brand-new band.

In between these musical meetings, K.C. and Betse founded Uncle Earl and The Wilders, two of the New Acoustic music scene’s most successful bands. Both bands continue to tour internationally. But there’s something about a duet that makes Wild Earl irresistible to both its busy members.

“You can really hear a fiddle melody when it’s accompanied by a guitar or a mandolin,” Betse says.

“We’re both fans of old-time duets,” says K.C. “Two voices singing together actually opens up more possibilities than traditional three-part harmonies.”

These technical elements, combined with the duo’s personal excitement to be playing together at last – makes a Wild Earl unique for artists and audience alike.

“Betse is a fireball,” says K.C. “She plays with the joy and spirit of someone who just discovered this music – and the tonality and precision of someone who’s been playing her whole life.”

“When K.C. and I first played together, I thought: ‘This is a dream collaboration,’” says Betse. “Her instrumental style is so spot-on and spontaneous. Her vocal style is so natural, yet precise.

“We’re thrilled to be touring. Actually, it’s a double-thrill. It’s so satisfying to play neo-traditional music for folks who love it already – and it’s really exciting to introduce new audiences to old-time music as well.”

Wild Earl’s set list combines originals and traditional songs. K.C. and Betse sing lead and vocal harmonies. K.C. plays mandolin, guitar and ukulele. Betse plays fiddle and tenor guitar.

Tim Eriksen is “widely regarded as the best traditional American ballad singer of his generation” (BBC Radio). He combines hair-raising vocals with savvy arrangements for fiddle, banjo, guitar and bajo sexto, transforming American tradition with a “northern roots” Americana sound that embraces old New England murder ballads, shape-note gospel and haunted originals alongside Southern Appalachian and Irish songs. His new solo CD Soul of the January Hills (Appleseed 2010) is hardcore Americana at its most elemental.

Considered “among the world’s finest folk practitioners” (Toronto Star) for his expertise in traditional song, Tim is also known for his own compositions that have been included in films like the Billy Bob Thornton vehicle Chrystal and the upcoming feature documentary Behold the Earth. Eriksen’s other notable work has included extensive contributions to Anthony Minghella’s 2004 Oscar-winning film Cold Mountain as well as collaborations ranging from hardcore punk to symphony orchestra and the 2010 Grammy-nominated album Across the Divide with Afro-Cuban jazz pianist Omar Sosa.

The former frontman of the prophetic groups Cordelia’s Dad (“folk-noise”), Northampton Harmony (shape-note quartet) and Zabe i Babe (Bosnian folk and pop), Tim Eriksen is the only musician to have shared the stage with both Kurt Cobain and Doc Watson, and his media appearances have ranged from the Prairie Home Companion to the Academy Awards. Having graduated from early shows at punk mecca CBGB, Tim’s recent performances have included his Carnegie Hall debut as a soloist in Evan Chambers’ symphonic work The Old Burying Ground (Dorian 2010) and shows at the Blue Note Jazz Club with Omar Sosa. In the studio, he has worked with producers including Joe Boyd, T-Bone Burnett and Steve Albini.