CD - Ragtime Wranglers - Groove A Tune

(2005/SRV) 14 tracks Nachdem man sich 15 Jahre von THE RAGTIME WRANGLERS live die Ohren hat durchblasen lassen, gibt es nun 'Groove A Tune' ein Album, das endlich die instrumentale Magie der Rotterdamer auch zu Hause wirken lässt. Die Mannen um Joe Sixpack, der szeneintern als einer der Top 5 Rockabilly Gitarristen gilt, lassen hier einen Hit nach dem anderen von der Leine, angefangen mit dem schweisstreibenden und gnadenlos jivenden 'The Manhunt' über das sanft bummelnde 'Groovesville' zum melodischen und wunderschön instrumentierten 'Blue Smoke' und der Weltklasse Coverversion des Jimmy Bryant Songs 'Low Man On A Totem Pole' die sich mit tödlicher Sicherheit zum grössten Hit und Tanzflächenfüller seit GO Cat GOs 'Please Mama Please' entwickeln wird. Wer bisher dachte, das sich Instrumentals alle gleich anhören, der wird mit 'Groove A Tune' eines Besseren belehrt. Oder warum sind Bands wie die 4 CHARMS oder BIG SANDY grosse Verehrer der RAGTIME WRANGLERS?

Their first instrumental CD / LP is called "Groove A Tune" was released April 2005 (right). 14 instrumentals: 8 originals and 6 covers, mainly from guitar-heroes like Merle Travis, Joe Maphis and Jimmy Bryant.

THE STORY SO FAR .......

Sietse, Joe and Mary Ann have been playing music together since the mid 1980’s. They recorded 2 songs for the Dutch compilation album "Holland Billy" with their band "The Greyhounds". In 1991 they formed "The Ranch Girls & Ragtime Wranglers, female harmony vocals backed up by guitar, upright bass and drums and toured intensively around Europe and the USA.

A year after the last Ranch Girls album, in 2002, one of the Ranch Girls quitted and Miss Mary Ann continued alone. In this same period Miss Mary Ann moved to the UK. Travelling from the UK to Holland sometimes was impossible when gigs came in at the last minute. The Ragtime Wranglers always say "yes" to a promoter so that's when we started to play live with the instrumental trio.

When you ask their influence and the music they want to play, they all will answer: early Country, Hillbilly, Western Swing, Rockabilly, Blues, Rhythm & Blues, Jazz and everything in between. The Ranch Girls were influenced by early duet-singing, Miss Mary Ann is rockabilly hooked and the Ragtime Wranglers like all but go wild for rocking instrumentals.

In the Ragtime Wrangler's opinion pop-songs without vocals are a forgotten art form. It has been a while since the charts were filled with instrumentals.  Some favourite artists ??? Too many to mention! We like rereleases on Bear Family, Charly, Ace, White Label to name a few and more obscure stuff.

The band recorded their first song without vocalists for the Ranch Girls'EP in 1993: Joe Maphis’ song "The Rocking Gypsy". This song appeared to be a much requested song and is still in the band’s repertoire. In April 1995 the first Ragtime Wranglers solo-product was released on our own label "Home Brew Records". The A-side is the second recording of "The Rocking Gypsy" the other side is "Road Stop" by Jimmy Day.

Soon after this release (Groove A Tune) the Ragtime Wranglers caught the eye of various promoters and were lucky to have the opportunity to do a few live-concerts with American legends: Curtis Gordon and Hardrock Gunter. These successful shows were repeated the following years and even more artists asked for the skills of the Ragtime Wranglers: Sid and Billy King, the Collins Kids, Larry Donn, Marvin Rainwater, Frankie Miller, Jack Earls, Charlie Louvin, Barbara Pittman and Janis Martin.

In June 2004 the Ratime Wranglers accompanied Sage and JW, 2 bandmembers of the Lucky Stars from Los Angeles at their European tour. The band's 2nd instrumental single "Low Man on a Totempole" was ready just in time to promote it that tour in Barcelona, Milano, Munich, Zurich and Berlin.

In the past few years the band toured Europe with the legendary Collins Kids and even supported them in Las Vegas USA. We played a lot of instrumental gigs too, but the Ragtime Wranglers with Miss Mary Ann remains our number one line-up.