Uncle Earl

Uncle Earl is an American old-time music group, formed in 2000 by KC Groves and Jo Serrapere. Currently the lineup consists of four women, all of whom share vocal duties: KC Groves, Kristin Andreassen, Abigail Washburn, and Rayna Gellert. They have released three albums and two EPs, and their fifth album Waterloo, Tennessee was produced by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin. History 1999-2002: Founding Groves and Serrapere, both American songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, started the band in 2000. The Uncle Earl biography, however, states 1999 as founding year. According to the founders, they had no original interest in starting a band. Instead, they wanted to promote a CD with traditional material they had recorded, and put together a small temporary lineup to play a few shows. After the initial performances went well, the group decided to stay together. Until the end of 2003 the line-up of the band had changed several times. Amongst the members in this period where Tahmineh Gueramy (fiddle, vocals), Amanda Kowalski (bass, vocals), Casey Henry (banjo, vocals) and Sally Truitt (bass, vocals). Groves mentioned in an interview how the band got its name, "We just thought it would be a funny name for an all-women's group," she says. "But we are fans of Earl Scruggs, Steve Earle, and Uncle Tupelo. It did come up in our discussion that there's some important Earls in this business. And Uncles." They refer to themselves as "the g'Earls," while their fans have been nicknamed "g'Earlfriends."