Paul Simon, Mad Sheer Khan, U2, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Rusted Root, REM, Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart's Planet Drum, Ali Farka Toure, Nickel Creek - Ireland, Africa, South America, Gypsy songs from all four directions. . . . . Rumi, Hafiz, Rilke, songs are poems after all. . .
Sounds Like
hopefully none of the above, and not like anyone else either. . .
We sound like new.
We sound like us.
PRESS QUOTES
"Highly Impressive!" -Ken Barnes, USA TODAY
"It's rare to hear something new and exciting in the realm of folk/roots music, but the careful alchemists of The Ragbirds have given us just that!"
-Bryan Rodgers, Homegrown Music Network
"The most engaging new band I've heard this year is The Ragbirds....eclectic, restlessly creative, poetic, and delivered with confidence, it grows on you with every listen."
-Jeffery Overstreet, Looking Closer (Seattle)
"This is evidence of the very best of what independent contemporary pop music has to offer"
-Thom Jurek, All Music (AMG)
"The Ragbirds have gestated a sound and experience so unlike anything you've seen in these parts, you may begin to wonder if you've teleported to another land"
-Cheryl Wilson, The Uncommon Sense Magazine
"I feel like I've stumbled across a band that's destined to achieve the same level of cult-greatness as The Innocence Mission, Bruce Cockburn, Ron Sexsmith, Sufjan Stevens, and yes, even Over the Rhine.... The Ragbirds debut album, Yes Nearby, is a work of astounding international eclecticism, mixing everything from reggae to Celtic to blues music along with plenty of world music into a unified, enchanting whole"
-Josh Hurst, Revealarts
"In an era of catchy but ultimately unsatisfying pop tunes, this is a welcome treat!"
-Roger Lelievre, The Ann Arbor News
"The first time I heard them play I was stunned....I heard their music and literally stopped in my tracks. Their music is not only inspiring and powerful, but a successful experiment in teleportation as well"
-Jamie Bradish, The Ypsilanti Courier
"Like a well-worn suitcase covered with travel stickers of world-music styles"
-Alan Goldsmith, The Ann Arbor Observer
READ MORE PRESS ON WWW.THERAGBIRDS.COM
MySpace Code and Tutorials by Eileen
Band Bio
Ask
The Ragbirds
how to describe their hard-to-define Folk Rock and World fusion and they’ll tell you it’s “infectious global groove”. Led by fiery front-woman Erin Zindle (called “Highly Impressive” by USA TODAY), they put on a show that is designed to engage the audience on many levels - to get people thinking, listening and dancing. As the band’s founder and songwriter, Zindle is like a bright excited tour guide through a beautiful foreign world of sights and sounds. Her earthy-sweet voice is the center of the storm of energy around her - the whirlwind of guitarist T.J. Zindle and dynamic bassist Dan Hildebrandt spinning over the ethnic grooves of drummer Randall Moore and percussionist Tim Dziekan. Amidst this blissful, restless energy Zindle skillfully switches between violin, mandolin, banjo, accordion, and percussion in addition to singing lead vocals (all while dancing!)
The musical roots of The Ragbirds sound are complex - with Gypsy, Middle-Eastern, Americana, Rock, and Latin influences, all stirred with a Celtic fiddler’s bow. In live performances the band incorporates variations on traditional African drum pieces, each member trading their instrument for a hand drum. The Ragbirds craft their songs carefully weaving joy and hope into honest lyrics, while keeping an ear always open to improvisation. The songs carry a positive message that appeals to listeners of all ages. For all the intensity of their live show, this is a band that is not afraid to show their softer side with acoustic tunes that are anything but typical folk.
The Ragbirds began in 2005 with the release of their debut CD, Yes Nearby, an independently produced and released full-length album. After receiving overwhelming local praise for Yes Nearby, the band began touring the country. In June 2007 The Ragbirds released their second studio release, Wanderlove, which has a world-travel theme with a pop appeal and was the number one selling album on Homegrown Music Network by the Fall of 2008. In February of 2009 Wanderlove was released on Buffalo Records in Japan.
Described as “Astounding International Eclecticism!” by Reveal Arts Magazine, The Ragbirds have become one of the most popular touring bands in their home state of Michigan, and can also be seen performing all over the Mid-West and beyond, growing a loyal fan base in regions throughout the country. The Ragbirds have played between 120-150 shows per year for the past few years, and have no intention of slowing down. In 2009 they went abroad to tour Japan and perform on the main stage at the Green Room Festival in Yokohama.
The Ragbirds have performed to enthusiastic audiences in 20 states so far, including major markets such as New York City, Nashville, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Indianapolis and many more. They have been featured at some of the Mid-West’s largest music festivals and have shared the stage with Mickey Hart, Sam Bush, Tony Rice, George Clinton & P.Funk, Railroad Earth, Toubab Krewe, Hot Buttered Rum, Giovanni Hidalgo, Donna The Buffalo, Jeff Daniels, Tea Leaf Green, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Mamadou Diabate, The Duhks, Wookiefoot, and more.
COMMITMENT TO GREEN TOURING In October 2008 The Ragbirds replaced their aging tour van with a Ford E-350 diesel van, and thanks to their friends at Full Circle Fuels in Oberlin OH (www.fullcirclefuels.com) converted it to run on Waste Vegetable Oil. (the kind of oil your last order of french fries was cooked in) Rudolph Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, originally intended his engine to run on peanut oil, and thanks to a minor modification to the fuel system of "Cecelia" (we named our van after the Patron Saint of Music) and the addition of some extra heated fuel tanks and filters we are able to run our tour van on used vegetable oil straight from restaurant dumpsters. As touring musicians, we must travel constantly to get our music heard beyond the borders of our hometown, and running on waste vegetable oil allows us to travel without dependence on foreign oil and all of it's related environmental, economic and political problems. We are also able to drastically reduce our carbon footprint and emissions by burning a domestically produced, renewable bio-fuel. We care deeply about the impact that all of our driving has on the environment and believe that we can all contribute to a cleaner, greener future.
Discography
2007 Wanderlove
2006 Catching Fire (recorded live in Ypsilanti)
2005 Yes Nearby
2005 Washed Away (single, profits donated to Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund)
"Tarantella" Live @ Greenroom Festival '09 YOKOHAMA, JAPAN!
"Romanian Train Song" Fan video from Greenroom Festival '09 YOKOHAMA, JAPAN!
"Dununba->Encore->Little Things" Hiawatha Music Festival
"Good" from Spring Hookahville '08 WSG TIM CARBONE OF RAILROAD EARTH
The Ragbirds @ Hookahville '08 wsg: Tim Carbone (RAILROAD EARTH) ..
I fly home July 1st and will be in the treetown vicinity ten days. I hope you are all great, and I cant wait to see you guys and to catch up! Rothbury will be Amazing! :) Only Love
Hey there TRb, FGC’s back in Michigan this Thursday for a 2-set show at Bell’s Brewery. Hope you can join us!
In the meantime, check out all three of our Summer Camp Festival sets on the Live Music Archive for free stream/download! Visit our MySpace blog for the links.
Juneboreee! 2009! Updates! Hello everyone. Hope all is well out there and you all are getting excited for the freak-show this year. We have some news and updates to this year's show:
We have been advertising that we were doing a raffle for Rothbury tickets. This has been changed. Rothbury wants The Ragbird's to do the ticket giveaway at one of their Ann Arbor shows. Living in Flint you grow a resiliency to adverse effects on a situation. We apologize for the switch up, it truly is out of our hands.
On the Rothbury note - we want to encourage all Juneboreee! attendees to vote for Covert Operations to get into this festival. Rothbury needs some Flint love.
OK so have you heard about all the amazing sponsors we have for the event?!
Guitar Center Summerset Salon Electric Chair Tattoo Lover's Lane Dale's Health Foods Midwest Peeps and now an addition: De Ja Vu
We are still pushing the pre-sale tickets for this event. When you arrive at The Purple Moon with your pre-sale ticket you will recieve 3 free raffle tickets. These tickets are good for the raffle of the grand prize: a guitar autographed by all the main stage bands! We thank Guitar Center so much for their donation to the freak-show!
Now also your pre-sale tickets will save you $15 at the door for our official after party: The De Ja Vu! Show up to the Vu with your Juneboreee! ticket stub and only pay $5! What a great way to wind the freak-show down?! Right!
The night will have a lot of twists and turns folks - we all hope you are ready for Juneboreee! 2009!
Please do your part to make this the best show you see this summer. Keep your friends informed, buy your pre-sale tickets, pick out your most freaky night attire, call the baysitter and let them know you won't be home until late, and have a great time planning for your great time! Love you all - can't wait for it all to unfold!
Were you guys just not gonna tell me you were coming to Rutland or what? Budget for an extra day and come check out my new digs. Welcome home weary travelers!
I am having a Rothbury pre-gathering July 1st at a place called Flip City. A Private disc golf course about 10 miles from Rothbury. I have a lot of cool cats from all over the country coming for a niiice collective camp. Want to get more Michigan peeps in on the action.
if anyone is interested...hit me up or check out my page in the coming weeks for directions!
The smallest bone in the human body is the stapes or stirrup bone located in the middle ear. It is approximately .11 inches (.28 cm) long and man does it shake when people get down. As I'm sure they did while listening to your track during last week's show.
My ears were truly blessed at Hookahville. Thank you, from one musician to another, from the bottom of my heart. I absolutely love this sound. namaste.
In October 2008 The Ragbirds replaced their aging tour van with a Ford E-350 diesel van, and thanks to their friends at Full Circle Fuels in Oberlin OH (www.fullcirclefuels.com) converted it to run on Waste Vegetable Oil. (the kind of oil your last order of french fries was cooked in) Rudolph Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, originally intended his engine to run on peanut oil, and thanks to a minor modification to the fuel system of "Cecelia" (we named our van after the Patron Saint of Music) and the addition of some extra heated fuel tanks and filters we are able to run our tour van on used vegetable oil straight from restaurant dumpsters. As touring musicians, we must travel constantly to get our music heard beyond the borders of our hometown, and running on waste vegetable oil allows us to travel without dependence on foreign oil and all of it's related environmental, economic and political problems. We are also able to drastically reduce our carbon footprint and emissions by burning a domestically produced, renewable bio-fuel. We care deeply about the impact that all of our driving has on the environment and believe that we can all contribute to a cleaner, greener future.
Online Now!
