Tom Harker (The Ukulele Man) - Vocals, Ukulele, Songs, Rants Pete English - Guitars, Backing Vocals Bob Hite - Accordian, Slide Whistle, Trumpet Ty Barnes - Bass, Backing Vocals Bob Starker - Saxophone Karen Green - Trombone, Snare Drum, Backing & Spoken Vocals John Dilgard - Harmonica
Influences
The Uke Man says... Hey!! INFLUENCES: besides bourbon and weed, I’ve been under the influence of Poe, Donne, Crane, Cummings, and a bunch of other scribblers.
Musically, I grew up hearing a lot of hillbilly stuff on "Midwestern Hayride" and poppy "Hit Parade" stuff on TV every week (like "The Poor People of Paris" ..1 for a zillion weeks, wearing out poor old Giselle McKinsey and Snooky Lanson).
Hit puberty with Dick Clark and "American Bandstand" (liked the music – didn’t care much for the posers). Went through the Folk Revival (bought a uke
to play "Tom Dooley").
Then Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Little Richard, and others started kicking the shit out of Pat Boone. Soon Elvis loved me tender, Dylan changed the times,
and the Beatles held my hand. Somewhere in there I came across Earl "Fatha" Hines, Don MacLean, Dr. John, and Leon Redbone. Much later Tom Waits stepped on my heart with "A Little Rain." Oh yeah, there’s also Joe Cocker and Harry Nilsson, and – finally – Ted Lewis...
There you go! A whole lot of names of really great artists - good luck finding them in my stuff.
Ukulele Man & his Prodigal Sons are six of the most talented musicians in central Ohio - five men and a woman - looking after an eccentric, old singer/song-writer (Uke Man - me). The songs must be damned good, or they’d have put me in the home by now.
Everybody knows that old people smell funny, but the Prodigals don’t seem to notice – we’re having too much fun.
If you like the samples from our CD’s, you ought to see us LIVE!!!
Are you on UkuleleUnderground.com? If not, you should be! They got
lots of cool things like discussion groups, places to put your videos
and contests! Tell em Joko sent ya! This video was my first ever entry into one of their
constests: make a uke video having something to do with the Devil.
Enjoy!
Please check out our new music video. The guy who directed Madonna's first music vid directed this, too. It's pretty funny, we think. Thanks again for being our friend!
We do shows in the area often and would love to see you at a show soon! If you or someone you know want to book us, email forerunnertheband@yahoo.com
Also, we are writing a devotional book as a band to make available at our shows at our mech table. until then, we are going to post them each day this week so you all can dialogue with us and each other. If you want us to continue to post these daily devotions, let us know.
Go to our site and subscribe to be a reader on our blog, then read the devotions each day and post your thoughts, prayers, etc.
Thank you for your friendship. It is the least expensive thing we can share with one another, yet it’s worth is immeasurable. Always a pleasure to hear you play :D
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