Tallgrass Express String Band began in 2004 when founding members met through jams at the Emma Chase Café in Cottonwood Falls and at the Council Grove Barber Shop. We took our name from the unique and valuable ecosystem of the Kansas Flint Hills, which contains the last 4% of Tallgrass Prairie remaining in North America.
Our latest album, Clean Curve of Hill Against Sky: Songs of the Kansas Flint Hills is entirely original. The instrumental “Home from the Z-Bar” is by fiddler Charlie Laughridge, and the lyrics and music to the other 15 songs are by guitarist Annie Wilson. It is the first album of its type – entirely based on Kansas Flint Hills themes: ranching and cowboys, beauty of the landscape, wildlife and plants, Native Americans, and local history. We feel incredibly lucky to live amidst the splendor and wide open spaces of the tallgrass prairie, and through our music, we celebrate this land and its people.
Charlie Laughridge on fiddle, mandolin, concertina, and harmonica operates his own business in rural Council Grove. Loren Ratzloff plays banjo, mandolin and dobro and is a farmer-stockman from rural Canton. Carl Reed of Manhattan is a specialist in grain storage and performs on bass and guitar. Annie Wilson who plays guitar in the band is a teacher and also helps her husband on their ranch near Elmdale. All four members contribute vocals.
We perform mainly in our local rural region at community festivals and concerts, historical events, organization dinners, parties, weddings & receptions, church programs, and dances. Beyond our original songs, our repertoire is as broad as the cultural roots of Kansas. Genres include fast-driving Old Time and Bluegrass favorites, beautiful ancient Celtic tunes, early American Gospel hymns, and beloved early Cowboy and Western standards. We play both classic melodies as well as lesser known tunes with old time roots.
We recorded our first CD in 2005 Music of the Emma Chase, and another one in 2007 Tallgrass Express Comes Back. Former members are Derrick Doty and Gary Rinehart.
Also see: www.tallgrassexpress.com
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