Album Notes

Some purple prose about the Red State Ramblers:

"Music that is bound to the earth, has the greatest power to affect us. That music which maintains the sacred bond uniting people and place has a vitality and passion that stirs our souls and imaginations. The music of the Red State Ramblers features native and adopted Kentuckians playing Kentucky tunes and songs that resonate with the truth of life lived close to the font from which this music springs. Will and Jeff grew up in the Bluegrass State, while Nikos and Kevin were inevitably drawn to the Commonwealth several years ago. This is old time music, a music that sings of the old ways in a new way that remains brilliantly alive. Old time music is the garden of delights that raised a progressive crop of genres that flowered as swing, bluegrass, rockabilly, and country. Old time music is the true vine that some folks continued to cherish, and passed on as precious heirlooms, a gift of the past to nourish us in the future."
-Ron Pen
Clark County, Kentucky


A description of the Red State Rambler's second recording, "Commonwealth"(from the album's liner notes):

"This is a concept album--our attempt to capture some of the musical styles that make Kentucky's traditional culture unique and worthy of maintaining as part of our modern culture. We recorded this album during four days that we spent at a beautiful Central Kentucky farm in the autumn of 2008, but we chose the material over the course of a two-year discussion about how much we love various songs and tunes from Kentucky. This is our humble attempt to pull a few old melodies out of obscurity, reclaim others from the mainstream, and provide our take on some well-worn treasures."