Ras Alan

Artist Information

Biography

Ras Alan celebrated Bob Marley’s TALKING BLUES reggae release in Jamaica with Ziggy, Stephen, Julian and Rita Marley; he picked informal gospel and swing tunes with American music icons Doc Watson and Jethro Burns; he learned ancient tribal rhythms and melodies at the feet of African blues master Ali Farke Toure. His original “reggabilly” songs and self-produced CDs have navigated the Grammy@ process, enlivened the Archives of Appalachia and represent “Contemporary Southern Appalachian Culture and Music” in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He’s been featured on Country Music Television, PBS and NPR stations nationwide.

He is a father, a solar designer, carpenter, electrician, organic gardener and all-around handy guy. He lives in the mountains just hours from where he was born into a large, close-knit family and continues to pick Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers tunes with his father and uncles at various reunions and yearly gatherings. He designed and built the acoustic guitar he plays.

"Regular songs about regular life… and a desire to do better.” Ras Alan’s music reflects a life of observing and learning, trying and failing, and trying again. He teaches ”Respect” in his “One HeartBeat- Appalachia to Zimbabwe” children’s programs, shares intimate “everyman” daily struggles in his songs and shines a flashlight-ray of Hope into the future and our place in it.

Ras Alan’s first “Appalachian Reggae” CD was released on his own label in the Spring of 1993. NATIVE met critic’s favor by its’ original take on storytelling to the pulsing reggae beat, rather than a mere copying of style or mimicry of a popular Caribbean accent and song form. STONE INNA HURRICANE, a live album recorded on the road during 1995-1996, was released on CD in 1997 and quickly sold out due to the record going straight to radio in markets that “got” the stories, rhythm and message.

In 2002, the more “pop” music elements of LETTER FROM APPALACHIA found Ras Alan’s greatest audience listening and dancing to his stories framed by thicker production and studio artistry: simple and decorative at the same time.

The Smithsonian Institution and the research committees for the “Year of Appalachia” found what they were looking for in Ras Alan’s music and narrative. He was invited to perform 10 shows on the National Mall in Washington, DC for the 37th Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the subsequent “Smithsonian to the Mountains Tour”, working alongside the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance, based in Bristol TN/VA. Ras Alan’s 2006 CD FOLKLIFE gathers his honest live performances in Washington, heard by thousands of the 1.5 million visitors and condenses the huge experience into an hour long tincture of homestyle ingenuity and front porch celebration.

With the new 2012 album ORGANIC, Ras Alan has sustainably harvested songs and stories from the experiential Appalachian World Wide asthetic. He built the studio the CD was recorded in, using spruce, bamboo and locally milled hemlock lumber. Ras Alan built the recording computer from collected parts and used whatever equipment he had around to track the live performances of instruments including his handmade flat top guitar, resonator, classical and Stratocaster guitars, mandolin, piano, organ, bass, drumkit, hand drums and percussion. He recorded ORGANIC as the organic garden just outside the studio window went from compost, to seed, to mason jars...

2012 represents the 19th year of Ras Alan’s “Appalachian Reggae” and his original reggabilly tunes will be featured alongside anecdotes, stories and instruments gathered along his musical odyssey, weaving mountain cultural traditions with global rhythmic inspiration.

Check Ras Alan and his music for a glimpse into a musical seeker’s life, a poet’s warehouse and a regular guy with an irregular beat.

NOW BOOKING 2012-2013

Ras Alan's own Appalachian Reggae is "DOC WATSON meets BOB MARLEY at the CARTER FAMILY picnic, with THE ABYSSINIANS and NORMAN BLAKE tradin' recipes with BURNING SPEAR, THE ITALS and JOHNNY CASH."

I continue to Give Thanks to the many promoters, talent buyers, fans and friends that encourage and uplift local musicians and a little Appalachian reggabilly...

“We’re more alike than different!”

What do country music and Ras Alan’s Appalachian reggae have in common? Both were featured on Country Music Television’s Small Town Secrets, when it showed “Guitars,” a piece about Bristol, TN/VA’s musical past and present, including roots like the Carter Family’s original country music, and branches like Ras Alan’s own genre, Appalachian reggae. Ras Alan provided audiences with musical and historical insights on the CMT show, and was featured on CMT’s website performing “Appalachian Man” beside the railroad tracks in Bristol. Ras Alan sang original lyrics about Southern Appalachian mountain living while playing an acoustic resonator guitar and thumping on dB, a wooden drink box that plays bass beneath Ras Alan’s boot. Ras Alan’s CMT performance and interview took place during Bristol’s Rhythm and Roots Reunion, where Ras Alan and The Lions performed a lively electric set.

Ras Alan was a featured performer at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, for the “Year of Appalachia”, recording 10 shows on the National Mall in Washington DC, some of which is included in his new live release, Folklife. Ras Alan performed in the “Smithsonian to the Mountains” tour and was greatly honored to appear at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, where A.P. and Sara Carter’s daughter, Janette, kept Southern Appalachian music traditions alive. Ras Alan appeared in Blue Ridge Country Magazine, photographed on the Pickin’ Porch at the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance for a Bristol radio show.

Ras Alan’s three previous albums are housed in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Archives and in East Tennessee State University’s Archives of Appalachia. These albums are Letter from Appalachia (2002), Stone Inna Hurricane (1997), and Native (1993). Letter from Appalachia and Folklife were each considered by the Grammy® committees in both the reggae and contemporary folk categories. Ras Alan appears on several regional and international CD compilations.

Ras Alan has picked and performed with music greats from many genres. He picked with Doc Watson and played African melodies with Malian master musician, Ali Farke Toure. He jammed with Yonder Mountain String Band; traded mandolin duet licks with Jethro Burns; and drummed with Nigerian Babetunde Olatunji. Ras Alan, a member and performer for Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide, shared the stage with Burning Spear and The Wailers.

Ras Alan performs at numerous family-friendly festivals throughout the US and Jamaica, and continues to be heard on radio and internet stations worldwide. Ras Alan’s blend of traditional mountain music, original lyrics, and reggae beat is a unique combination. His songs are fun, emotional, and socially responsible. Influenced by bluegrass, old time, Southern gospel, jazz, African drumming, and a respectful portion of Rastafari spirituality, Ras Alan’s music is full of life, and the reggae beat is extremely danceable. Establishing the term “Reggabilly” in 1991, Ras Alan’s songs are true stories inspired locally and applicable worldwide, rooted in Southern Appalachian tradition and consciously moving forward.

Bob Marley biographer and Reggae Grammy® chair, Roger Steffens writes, “Reggabilly at its best!”

Ras Alan is available for performances, workshops, children’s programs, recordings, and interviews. Currently booking through Red Pepper Records, please contact us at:

Appalachianreggae.com or PO Box 33 Greeneville, TN 37744 USA


Ras Alan's ONE HEARTBEAT Program for Children

Ras Alan, a native of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southern Appalachia, will present his One Heartbeat – Appalachia to Zimbabwe, a musical, creative, fun, and educational program for children in grades pre-k through 5. Red Pepper recording artist, Ras Alan, will present his One Heartbeat Program for Children as single or multi-day workshops, school assemblies, or as an artist-in-residence program. One Heartbeat provides arts enrichment, cultural diversity, character education, and social studies for young students, including at-risk youth and children with disabilities. Ras Alan has presented One Heartbeat – Appalachia to Zimbabwe in elementary schools, pre-schools, libraries, after-school programs, family friendly music festivals, events, and celebrations throughout the US and Jamaica.
The purpose of Ras Alan’s Program for Children is to promote and increase self-esteem through artistic, creative self-expression. One Heartbeat is musical, educational, and experiential. The youth will have hands-on exposure to a variety of percussion instruments from around the world, including Thailand, Mali, Jamaica, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Southern Appalachia. The music and social studies lessons will start far away, then the program will bring it home to the Appalachians as Ras Alan provides an acoustic performance accompanied by dB, the famous wooden drink box that plays bass under Ras Alan’s thumping boot. His blend of traditional mountain music, original lyrics, and reggae rhythm is a unique combination.
Ras Alan will explain his Appalachian Reggae ties to the Smithsonian Institution, the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance, and the Archives of Appalachia at East Tennessee State University. Ras Alan’s positive message will encourage the children to experience the importance and validity of their own place in the world. They will also experience diversity while expressing themselves with percussion instruments from far away lands.
The ultimate goal of Ras Alan’s One Heartbeat – Appalachia to Zimbabwe Program for Children is for the youth to learn that each individual is valuable and important, and that we’re more alike than different!

The following quotes are from educators who have participated in Ras Alan’s One Heartbeat Program for Children. “You have been incredible at our school. AR Lewis is so fortunate to have had you here. Thanks again.” Kathy Brazinski, Principal, AR Lewis Elementary School, Pickens, South Carolina, May 22, 2006. “The children really loved it, especially playing the instruments!” Lindsey Dayton, Assistant Teacher, Asbury Child Enrichment Center, Greeneville, Tennessee, June 28, 2006. "We enjoyed having you and the students AND the teachers enjoyed the experience."- Emily Bivins, Principal, Carrboro Elementary School, Carrboro, North Carolina, November 29, 2007.

One Heartbeat Workshop Program

Workshops are 45 minutes each and include hands-on student participation, with a maximum of 25 students in a group. A total of 4 workshops will be provided each day, scheduled with 15-minute breaks in between. For example, workshops could be scheduled for 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, & 1:00. Each group will be accompanied by adults provided by the schools for supervision.

One Heartbeat Artist in Residence Program

3 days of workshops as described above and also including an introduction to music technology with recording equipment and laptop provided by Ras Alan. On Day 4 of the program, a presentation will be given by the students, either live or recorded, for their peers. All groups will be accompanied by adults provided by the school for supervision.

One Heartbeat School Assembly Program

A 60-minute program can be presented in the school auditorium, gym, or other common area, and will include limited hands-on opportunities for a small number of students chosen from the audience.


Ras Alan’s Musical Highlights

Ras Alan was a featured performer at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, for “The Year of Appalachia” in 2003, recording 10 shows on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Select songs are included on his new CD, Folklife. Ras Alan performed in the 2004 “Smithsonian to the Mountains” tour and was greatly honored to appear at the Carter Fold in Hiltons, Virginia.
Ras Alan’s three existing albums are housed in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Archives and in East Tennessee State University’s Archives of Appalachia. These albums are Letter from Appalachia (2002), Stone Inna Hurricane (1997), and Native (1993). Letter was considered for Grammy® Awards in both the reggae and contemporary folk categories.

Please go to www.appalachianreggae.com for more information on Ras Alan and the One Heartbeat – Appalachia to Zimbabwe Program for Children.

CONTACT RAS ALAN BY E-MAIL: rasalan@appalachianreggae.com
or visit www.myspace.com/rasalan

VENUES FEATURING RAS ALAN

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Washington, DC
Appalachian Music Festival Wise, VA
Bob Marley “Talkin Blues” Celebration White River Junction, Jamaica
Mountain Arts Center Prestonsburg, KY
Paramount Theatre Bristol, TN
Pipestem Resort State Park Pipestem, W VA
Smithsonian to the Mountains Tour Southern Appalachia
Wichita World Reggae Festival Wichita, KS
Museum of Appalachia Norris, TN
Asheville Music Jamboree Mills River, NC
Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion Briston, TN/VA
Blue Ridge Harvestfest La Fayette, GA
Appalshop Whitesburg, KY
Smilefest Union Grove, NC
Atlanta Dogwood Festival Atlanta, GA
Flatrock Music Festival Flat Rock, NC
Carter Family Fold Hiltons, VA
French Broad River Festival Hot Springs, NC
Blue Ridge Music Center Galax, VA
Georgia Theater Athens, GA
R.A.W. Artist Showcase Utah State Fair Park, SLC, UT
South Mountain Acoustic Revival Theatre- Mayfest Burke County, NC
Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide Las Vegas, NV
Chinese New Year Half Moon Beach, Jamaica
Triad Sunsplash Greensboro, NC
Decatur Earthday Festival Decatur, GA
Hillbilly Nation Celebration Wise County, VA
Carrboro Elementary School, Carrboro, NC
Music on the Square Jonesborough, TN
Love Inna Yard, Negril, Jamaica
Eno River Festival Durham, NC
First Night Celebration Kingsport, TN
Round Mountain Festival Series Brevard, NC
Blue Plum Festival Johnson City, TN
Fall for Greenville Greenville, SC
Bristol Border Bash Bristol, TN/VA
Watauga County Library Boone, NC
Rock Creek Elementary School Erwin, TN
Art In The Park Greenville, SC
Mabel Elementary School Zionville, NC
Americorps Diversity Workshop Hampton, TN
Alive After Five Series Roanoke, VA
A R Lewis Elementary School Pickens, SC
Asheville After Five Asheville, NC
Life of Bob Marley Video Festival Boone, NC
Camp Reggae Isabella, TN
Selina’s World Wide Webcast Negril, Jamaica
Be Here Now Asheville, NC
AcousticScene Series Greenville, SC
Acoustic Coffeehouse Johnson City, TN
Music Moving Mountains RAWshowcase Asheville, NC
Neighborhood Theater Charlotte, NC
Ritmo Latino Festival Greenville, SC
Cat’s Cradle Chapel Hill, NC
The Down Home Johnson City, TN
Palace International Durham, NC
Belle Chere Asheville, NC
McKissick Elementary School Easley, SC
Charlotte Civic Center Charlotte, NC
Lake Norman Reggae Series Lake Norman, NC
Black Mountain Festival Black Mountain, NC
Greeneville/Greene County Library Greeneville, TN
Jake’s Toadhouse Atlanta, GA
Ten Years After Hickory, NC
The Old Mill Damascus, VA
Rock The Vote – ETSU Johnson City, TN

RED PEPPER RECORDS PO box 33 Greeneville, TN 37744 www.facebook.com/ras.alan1

Instrumentation

Ras Alan performs solo Appalachian Reggae shows with his flat top guitar, resonator guitar, "dB" the famous drink-box he kicks for a drum, and a custom ashiko.

When Ras Alan brings his touring and recording band "The Lions", expect the stratocaster, electric and/or upright bass, drumkit, organ, piano, accordian, percussion, click guitar, three part harmonies, a musical engineer and a VERY energetic stage show!

Ras Alan's ONE HEARTBEAT -Appalachia to Zimbabwe Program for children includes an Introduction to many percussion instruments from around the world, using world maps, stories and details about the instruments themselves, a focus on Respect- for the instruments, each other and ultimately ourselves, and Hands-On opportunities to try the various instruments.

Additional workshops have included children learning Patterns, Teamwork, Trust, Rehearsing, Recording and Listening/Dancing to their work together and Performing for their peers.

Discography

-Ras Alan ORGANIC 2012 CD Red Pepper Records
-Ras Alan FOLKLIFE -Live at The Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2006 CD Red Pepper Records
-Ras Alan LETTER FROM APPALACHIA 2002 CD Red Pepper Records
-Ras Alan and The Lions STONE INNA HURRICANE 1997 CD Red Pepper Records
-Ras Alan and The Lions NATIVE 1993 CD/CS Red Pepper Records
-WNCW- Crowd Around the Mic VOL. 11 CD
-WNCW- Crowd Around the Mic VOL. 7 CD Compilation
-Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide VOL.1 CD Compilation
-1000 Years of Peace CD Compilation
-Music On The Square VOL. 1 CD Compilation
-Voice Of The Turtle "World Beat Jazz" 1990; RA and others; Out of print

Official Website

http://www.appalachianreggae.com

Links

• Facebook

Audio

• So Much Betta
  Listen   Download
• Nice Up Natty
  Listen   Download
• Risin Sun
  Listen   Download
• Risin Sun- Stone Inna Hurricane album- Live
  Listen   Download

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Ras Alan and The Lions- Belle Chere [+ Show ]
  

  It was really good to see Ras Alan again - haven't seen him and the Lions since I was in school ...
  
  It was really good to see Ras Alan again - haven't seen him and the Lions since I was in school - and no, I won't tell you how long ago that was but, I do know these guys have been serving up their Appalachian Roots reggae for many many years. They are so low key and non-pretentious - singing about organic farming and mountain living - so laid back that everyone just has a good natural time listening and dancing. So sweet! A big thanks to Ras and the fellas -definitely a high point for me this past year at Belle Chere.
  

• Appalachian folk singer Ras Alan mixes old-time and bluegrass mountain music with reggae [+ Show ]
  

  Mountain Stage • Equal parts Doc Watson and Bob Marley, The Carter Family and Burning Spear, Ras... Mountain Stage •
  
  Equal parts Doc Watson and Bob Marley, The Carter Family and Burning Spear, Ras Alan has been blending old time Appalachian music with reggae rhythms and Rastafari spirit for over 15 years. His self-styled “reggabilly” has won Alan wide acclaim; he has toured Jamaica numerous times with his band, The Lions, has been profiled on programs on both CMT and PBS, was a featured performer at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival during their Year of Appalachia in 2003, and three of his albums are now permanently housed in the Smithsonian Archives. BRO caught up with Alan during a recent trip to visit family in North Carolina.
  
  BRO: How does a boy from the Blue Ridge Mountains get into reggae?
  
  RA: I grew up listening to a lot of AM radio, like a lot of the people in the 60s and 70s, and I heard stuff like Paul Simon and Mungo Jerry. Around that time I heard Eric Clapton’s version of “I Shot the Sheriff” and I really liked the rhythm part of it. Then a friend of my cousin told me that if I liked that, I should hear the guy that wrote the song. And I remember clearly to this day him dropping the needle on that vinyl record of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Live at the Lyceum. It changed my life. I grew up a Southern Baptist and this music had all the women singing the gospel harmonies and the spiritual feeling to it, and then you add the guitar and electric bass and the drums. I was smitten. It was cool, too, because it was a little outside the norm for a young radical forming his opinion of the world.
  
  BRO: What is reggabilly?
  
  RA: It’s music and stories from Southern Appalachia inspired by the heartbeat of Rastafari. We coined that term in 1991 when I was trying to think of what we could call this type of music that’s got bass and drums and harmonies with me flatpicking over it. Nobody else was doing that at the time and we were just thinking about it and it became obvious-it’s reggabilly. It’s hillbilly music with a reggae beat.
  
  BRO: Reggae music is infused with a political and social consciousness. When you look at the world today, what do you see that fuels that sort of message in your music?
  
  RA: I grew up in a large, spiritual family that was not endowed with wealth or land. I grew up in the woods, and if we found some boards and some nails we were stoked. I didn’t know we were poor. Now, all of Appalachia has been looked up to for spiritual guidance, for beauty, for craft, for entertainment, and at the same time destroyed, taken apart, and decimated for capitalism through mountain top removal, the coal mines, the timber industry, the hosiery mill industry. The capitalist powers came in and took all of the mineral wealth, all the wealth that we were endowed with because of our locale. They took the wealth and they didn’t spread the wealth to all the people. When I see the world, I see the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. The unfortunate thing is that the haves are having at the expense of the have-nots and are making the have-nots not have. And it isn’t just here-it’s worldwide.
  
  BRO: So, do you think music can be a way of inspiring solutions to these problems?
  
  RA: Absolutely. My earlier songs were heavy songs that did a lot complaining, that pointed out problems that I saw in the world. These songs were fueling the idea that we were under the boot of “The Man.” I later began writing more mature songs that asked, “Do you notice that these things are awry, and what can we do to fix them?” I soon realized that we aren’t under anybody’s boot but our own. It is up to us to understand that all we have to do is step aside and re-create our path. Hopefully, as I age, my music can be even more uplifting. We are going to acknowledge that there are major problems and inequalities in the world, but we are going to dance, play, laugh, love, and sing anyway.
  
  BRO: So, any given night at a Ras Alan show, who would be the better guest-Doc Watson or Bob Marley-assuming Bob was still alive, of course?
  
  RA: Man, that’s a trick question. I can’t choose. I mean, Doc Watson is like my chosen grandfather, simply because he represents so much of the Southern Appalachian experience to me. And Bob Marley, he came from such a similar situation in Jamaica. Those are my two guiding lights. I put them together but can’t take them apart. As they say in Jamaica, “Mi cyan’t sey, mon!" -Dave Stallard
  
  ©Copyright, Blue Ridge Outdoors

• Ras Rojah's Reggae Ramblings [+ Show ]
  

  "Reggabilly at its best!" Roger Steffens - Bob Marley biographer and Reggae Grammy® chair ... "Reggabilly at its best!"
  
  Roger Steffens - Bob Marley biographer and Reggae Grammy® chair
  
  

• LISTEN CLOSELY - Local Music Roundup [+ Show ]
  

  "...the "reggaebilly" singer's FOLKLIFE is by turns joyful and reflective, trimmed with punchy guita..."...the "reggaebilly" singer's FOLKLIFE is by turns joyful and reflective, trimmed with punchy guitar and Alan's eminently likable voice...it's hard to imagine more pleasant listening than "So Much Betta", a sweet-toned critique of TV culture, or the gentle moral nudge that is "Golden Rule" and it's Neil Young-by-way-of-Kingston melody."
  Kent Priestly - Mountain Xpress (Jan 2, 2007)
  

• Ras Alan connects Appalachia, Jamaica [+ Show ]
  

  "Ras Alan's been able to blend vintage country and Appalachian folk with the steady grooves of J... "Ras Alan's been able to blend vintage country and Appalachian folk with the steady grooves of Jamaican ska and roots reggae. Despite seemingly obvious culture clashes, the songwriter's personal ability to correlate the two genres makes the music breathe with authenticity.
  
  With his homemade acoustic guitar and steady percussive footbox, he revives the dusty mountain ancestry of the Carter Family while bringing a modern context to the soulful social outcry of the Marley message."
  
  
  
  

• Ras Alan's ONE HEARTBEAT Program [+ Show ]
  

  "You have been incredible at our school. A R Lewis is so fortunate to have had you here. Thanks ... "You have been incredible at our school. A R Lewis is so fortunate to have had you here. Thanks again."
  
  Kathy Brazinski Principal - A R Lewis Elementary School, Pickens, SC
  
  

• Chuck Foster [+ Show ]
  

  "Energetic and kinetic...This music sounds as natural coming from the mountains of North Carolina as..."Energetic and kinetic...This music sounds as natural coming from the mountains of North Carolina as the music from the hills of Jamaica's Blue Mountain Range."

• Radio Contrabanda- Barcelona, Spain [+ Show ]
  

  "People like {Ras Alan's cd Native}...Good reaction to it in this city... Good work giving us positi..."People like {Ras Alan's cd Native}...Good reaction to it in this city... Good work giving us positive vibes!"

• DJ Luke Irie [+ Show ]
  

  "Highly uplifting, concious, roots reggae, in a mesmerizing country-bluegrass style. The lyrics capt..."Highly uplifting, concious, roots reggae, in a mesmerizing country-bluegrass style. The lyrics capture the true essence of Rasta philosophy... upliftment of the masses."

• It Works! [+ Show ]
  

  "Ras Alan is able to weave blues, bluegrass and country elements into his rootsy Reggae fabric... it..."Ras Alan is able to weave blues, bluegrass and country elements into his rootsy Reggae fabric... it works!"

Setlist

Ras Alan performs these and other all original songs:

Organic
Beauty & Love
17 Years
Days Gone By
Livin in The Appalachians
White House
So Much Betta
Change
Herb Revenooer
Lifetime
Dreamer
I for an I
Be Ye Strong
Appalachian Man
Nice Up, Natty!
Everyhouse
59 Locks
Stone Inna Hurricane
Kali Tree
Dreadneck
Golden Rule
Reggabilly
Rise
Many Names
Rastafari Ridge
Boy Like I
Live it Up, Rasta
Illusion
100 Lb Bale
Risin' Sun
Wake Up
Outside the Box
Forward 2 Tomorrow
Country Rebel
Cyan't Cage a Lion
Posted
Jah Jah Lives
Guidance
Sacred Ground
World Citizen

Basic Requirements

Calendar