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RalūGerri Iregular RalūGerri Irregular
RalūGerri
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES -------- MEMBERS ------- PHOTOS -------- MUSIC -------- CONTACT

RalūGerri
(pronounced "Rah'-loo gAIR'-ee")

Fierce bard from the Highlands of Missouri.

Displaced from his beloved homeland -- which could be either Dingwall or Stonehaven, Scotland, but some say it were Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides (though recent scholars think they’ve got him pinpointed more near Hammerfest, in Norway; at any rate, if you look these places up in an Atlas you’ll agree he came from way out there!) – however, to go on...

Once was he hailed as a close bit of an annoyance to chieftains and priests; but following a tenure in war as an infantry musician, he began to sing political lays and dirges indicating his own displeasure as to how the soldiers were treated after the war was seemingly over, and the army pensions weren’t large enough to keep a fresh set of strings on his instrument but once a year, nor even enough left over after utilities to purchase a goat for meat and to get the skin to re-cover his bodhran.

He sang in the beer halls and coffee shops that dot the wild shores of the world, where decent men and women huddle over frosty mugs of brown ale, or cups of foaming latté – disgruntled folk, then, who waited to hear just the right tune, for their toes to tap in rhythm and their minds to ponder the words.

And the words of RalūGerri soon exalted him from a bit of an annoyance to a pretty darn big annoyance – thus he was forced to leave his wind-swept shores and come at last to this new land, Amerikay. And of course, that left him a bit depressed; so it were he was ripe to embrace the American Blues, and add it to his musical vocabulary, which already included Scottish, Irish, English and Norwegian traditions.
---
Thus we are The RalūGerri Musicians, carrying on (and often away with), the exciting, eccentric, eclectic traditions of this unusual man, who reportedly made his last home in the American Midwest, but who had seen the world for what it was: RalūGerri, fierce bard of the Missouri Highlands.

---------- (This enlightenment issued forth from the fertile fields of Dale's mind, sometime in the wee hours of 11-29-2004 ...
-------------He was obviously channeling.)

----------------------
And there you have it.



L to R : Tony Blackford, flute; Rob Ahrens, bodhran; Ian McUmber-House, rhythm guitar;
Sarah McUmber-House, bass; Larry Ayers, fiddle; Dale McUmber-House, guitar.


Here are a couple of ancient low-rent mp3's of RalūGerri :
Paddy on the Railroad / Silver Spear / the High Reel 4.9 MEG Mp3
Maggie in the Wood / Rakes of Mallow 4.48 MEG Mp3
We'll have more up soon, and yes, we are working on a CD.

--------------------------
RalūGerri consists of:
--------------------------
Rob Ahrens - bodhran, bones, harmonica
Larry Ayers - fiddle, mandolin
Tony Blackford - flute, penny whistles, fiddle
Dale McUmber-House - guitar, vocals
Sarah (Annie) McUmber-House - bass, penny whistles, vocals
Ian McUmber-House - rhythm guitar

Playing Traditional Music in the Celtic Style.
Available for Contra Dances, Concerts, and what have you.

CONTACT
For bookings or more info:
Dale McUmber-House: 573-985-4141
or E-mail - ralugerricontactsassafrassgrove.com (replace the "at" image with @)

----------------------

June 12, 2010, 8PM
Battle of Holden
MCWRA Event
Holden City Lake
Holden, MO

----
May 22, 2010, 2-3PM
Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
New Harmonies: American Roots Music
Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum
120 North Main Street
Hannibal, MO 63401

----------------------

You May Have Already Seen Us Here:
---
St. PATRICK'S DAY 2010
The Blind Pig
900 N Twelfth St
Quincy, IL 62301
----
Hannibal Arts Council's
Autumn Historic Folklife Festival (HAC's FLF!)
Downtown Historic District
Hannibal, MO 63401
----
Salt River Folklife Festival
Clarence Cannon Dam
Monroe City, MO
----
New London, MO Sesquicentennial
New London, MO, 2008
----
Lincoln Douglas Debates
Quincy, IL, 2008
----
PCWRA - Palmyra Civil War Reenactment Association
Annual Potter's Raid Military Ball
Palmyra, MO
----
Mississippi Thespians
Annual Civil War Ball
Quincy, IL
----
Mid Missouri Traditional Dancers
Contra Dances
Columbia, MO
----
"Fine Arts Night"
Stowell Elementary School
Hannibal, MO
----
"Fine Arts Night"
Eugene Field Elementary School
Hannibal, MO
----
Along with friends...at any of the
(now unfortunately defunct)NEMOFOTMAD Contra Dances Hannibal, MO
----
2008 "50 Miles of Art Studio Tour"
Java Jive
211 N. Main
Hannibal, MO
----
2008 "Canton in Bloom Festival" - Street Dance (Contra)
With Caller, Mac McKeever
Canton, MO

Photos courtesy Kathy Kirtcher, Lydia McUmber-House, Margarita Oguilve, Ralls County Herald Enterprize, and others. Used with permission. (And Thanks!)




Little glimpses...

Hannibal Folklife 10/17/2009
RG at 0.08 - 0.23
Sarah (bass) and Tony (whistle), with Larry Mitchell helping out on Bodhran

Hannibal Folklife 10/17/2009
RG at 1:24 to end.
Tony (flute), a headless Rob (bones), and Sarah (whistle).


This page last edited on 04/21/2010.
Webpage and graphics © copyright 2007-2010
S.A. McUmber-House - Sassafrass Grove Studio, (except where noted)
all rights reserved.
The 6 RalūGerri Musicians illustrations were done by
Casi Erin Gray, Main Street Studio, Ashkum, IL,
created expressly for the band, and belong to the individual musicians. Used with permission.