my biggest influence was THE FAT BOYS!! and then after that,ELVIS,the Beatles, Sun Ra, Devo,Captain Beefheart, Pere Ubu,all of the "Nuggets" bands.all "real" world music, not the new age kind....Morton Feldman,Bartok,Doc Boggs,Johnny Dodds, Hary Carney, Johnny Hodges, Coleman Hawkins, Albert Ayler,Jimmy Rodgers, the Memphis jug band,Rahssan,Roland Kirk!!!!!!,Danny Cohen.... Sol Hoopii, the Dillards, the Residents,Carl Stallings, Spike Jones,Ornette Coleman, Weather Report(the early stuff) Miles,Dylan,Roxy Music, Eno, Lester Young,Earl Bostic,Desmond Dekker, Bob Marley,Patsy Cline,Television,Talking Heads,Stravinsky,Django,Pharoah Sanders,Robert Wyatt, Duke Ellington,Soft Machine,Family, Eric Dolphy,John Coltrane,Mahler,Yma Sumac,louis armstrong, Can, the Shaggs, all song poem artist's(more later, you get the picture)
I am a multi-instumentalist,but mainly a sax and clarinet guy...i mess around ..s, lap steel, uke, and ethnic do- dads, was born in Akron Ohio in da 1950's...i have been playing professionaly since 1978 when my first band "Tin Huey" got a record deal with Warner brothers. I have since recorded and toured with "the B52's,Tom Waits" was in the Tom Waits "in concert" film "BIG TIME" and I have done countless recording sessions over the years with Oranj Symphonette,Jonathan Richman,Danny Cohen, Jim White, Victoria Williams, Galaxie 500, Elvis Costello,Chuck Prophet,Penelope Houston,Marc Ribot, Swollen Monkeys, "Carney,Hild,Kramer", Daeved Allen,Allen Ginsburg, Kathy Acker,Clarinet thing,Steve Yerkey,Tipsy, William Buroughs.I am on the new "Harry Smith Project" box set and the upcoming Tom Waits "Orphans" box set..although I didn't get no money from them!!! and countless others...(i will fill them in later) I have 3 solo records out, "Ralph Sounds" "I like you(a-lot)" and "this is Ralph Carney!" my current band'"Carneyball Johnson"HAS A NEW C.D.!! it is now available at C.D.BABY.COM p.s. yes, I am Patrick Carney's(the Black Keys) uncle!!!! I just recorded some tracks with them in Ohio, the record will be out in April of 2008.also, 2 spoken word recordings that I composed and played all the music, "the Stauffenberg cycle" readings by Ira Cohen music by me and "Really Creeley" readings by the late Robert Creeley with music by me, are available for downloading at 10 bucks a pop @ www.parisrecords.net.....I jut recorded and did a live film score with Black Francis, for the silent film"Der Golem" the record and maybe a dvd of the movie and score, will most likely be out sometime in 2008!!. I have a wonderful wife and daughter and live in a groovy neighborhood in S.F. life is good!!
....also,until we have the paypal thing going on our website"carneyballjohnson.com" you can write to us at "cbjinfo@akroncracker.com" and you can buy one there.....
hola ralph espero que usted tenga unas vacaciones de verano agradables y hará volar muchas notas hermosas en sus cuernos en una variedad de cintas diferentes y locales para el placer de sus muchos abanicos. ¿a propósito, hizo usted aquella cosa de diapositiva de aspecto graciosa? ¿qué lo llama usted? ¡mucho amor y adiós ralph!
Great sounds on "chant of the weed"! I love the bass sax & clarinet in the mix. The clarinet reminds of Wilton Crawley on those old Jelly Roll Morton recordings. Maybe an alternate title could be "chant of the reed"?! Best Wishes, Marco
hi Ralph! How is it going on the other side of the planet?? I'm doing pretty great this days for no real reason. it's always a pleasure to stop by and listen to your music! cx