Ras Alan: Press

Ras Alan and Lions Belle Chere 09

It was really good to see Ras Alan again - haven't seen him and the Lions since I was in school - and no, I won't tell you how long ago that was but, I do know these guys have been serving up their Appalachian Roots reggae for many many years. They are so low key and non-pretentious - singing about organic farming and mountain living - so laid back that everyone just has a good natural time listening and dancing. So sweet! A big thanks to Ras and the fellas -definitely a high point for me this past year at Belle Chere.

"Mountain Stage" Blue Ridge Outdoor magazine...

Appalachian folksinger Ras Alan mixes old-time and bluegrass music with reggae!

Equal parts Doc Watson and Bob Marley, The Carter Family and Burning Spear, Ras Alan has been blending old time Appalachian music with reggae rhythms and Rastafari spirit for over 15 years. His self-styled “reggabilly” has won Alan wide acclaim; he has toured Jamaica numerous times with his band, The Lions, has been profiled on programs on both CMT and PBS, was a featured performer at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival during their Year of Appalachia in 2003, and three of his albums are now permanently housed in the Smithsonian Archives. BRO caught up with Alan during a recent trip to visit family in North Carolina.

BRO: How does a boy from the Blue Ridge Mountains get into reggae?

RA: I grew up listening to a lot of AM radio, like a lot of the people in the 60s and 70s, and I heard stuff like Paul Simon and Mungo Jerry. Around that time I heard Eric Clapton’s version of “I Shot the Sheriff” and I really liked the rhythm part of it. Then a friend of my cousin told me that if I liked that, I should hear the guy that wrote the song. And I remember clearly to this day him dropping the needle on that vinyl record of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Live at the Lyceum. It changed my life. I grew up a Southern Baptist and this music had all the women singing the gospel harmonies and the spiritual feeling to it, and then you add the guitar and electric bass and the drums. I was smitten. It was cool, too, because it was a little outside the norm for a young radical forming his opinion of the world.

BRO: What is reggabilly?

RA: It’s music and stories from Southern Appalachia inspired by the heartbeat of Rastafari. We coined that term in 1991 when I was trying to think of what we could call this type of music that’s got bass and drums and harmonies with me flatpicking over it. Nobody else was doing that at the time and we were just thinking about it and it became obvious-it’s reggabilly. It’s hillbilly music with a reggae beat.

BRO: Reggae music is infused with a political and social consciousness. When you look at the world today, what do you see that fuels that sort of message in your music?

RA: I grew up in a large, spiritual family that was not endowed with wealth or land. I grew up in the woods, and if we found some boards and some nails we were stoked. I didn’t know we were poor. Now, all of Appalachia has been looked up to for spiritual guidance, for beauty, for craft, for entertainment, and at the same time destroyed, taken apart, and decimated for capitalism through mountain top removal, the coal mines, the timber industry, the hosiery mill industry. The capitalist powers came in and took all of the mineral wealth, all the wealth that we were endowed with because of our locale. They took the wealth and they didn’t spread the wealth to all the people. When I see the world, I see the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. The unfortunate thing is that the haves are having at the expense of the have-nots and are making the have-nots not have. And it isn’t just here-it’s worldwide.

BRO: So, do you think music can be a way of inspiring solutions to these problems?

RA: Absolutely. My earlier songs were heavy songs that did a lot complaining, that pointed out problems that I saw in the world. These songs were fueling the idea that we were under the boot of “The Man.” I later began writing more mature songs that asked, “Do you notice that these things are awry, and what can we do to fix them?” I soon realized that we aren’t under anybody’s boot but our own. It is up to us to understand that all we have to do is step aside and re-create our path. Hopefully, as I age, my music can be even more uplifting. We are going to acknowledge that there are major problems and inequalities in the world, but we are going to dance, play, laugh, love, and sing anyway.

BRO: So, any given night at a Ras Alan show, who would be the better guest-Doc Watson or Bob Marley-assuming Bob was still alive, of course?

RA: Man, that’s a trick question. I can’t choose. I mean, Doc Watson is like my chosen grandfather, simply because he represents so much of the Southern Appalachian experience to me. And Bob Marley, he came from such a similar situation in Jamaica. Those are my two guiding lights. I put them together but can’t take them apart. As they say in Jamaica, “Mi cyan’t sey, mon!"

"Reggabilly at its best!"

LISTEN CLOSELY - 2006 Local Music Roundup

"...the "reggaebilly" singer's FOLKLIFE is by turns joyful and reflective, trimmed with punchy guitar and Alan's eminently likable voice...it's hard to imagine more pleasant listening than "So Much Betta", a sweet-toned critique of TV culture, or the gentle moral nudge that is "Golden Rule" and it's Neil Young-by-way-of-Kingston melody."

"Ras Alan's been able to blend vintage country and Appalachian folk with the steady grooves of Jamaican ska and roots reggae. Despite seemingly obvious culture clashes, the songwriter's personal ability to correlate the two genres makes the music breathe with authenticity.

With his homemade acoustic guitar and steady percussive footbox, he revives the dusty mountain ancestry of the Carter Family while bringing a modern context to the soulful social outcry of the Marley message."

"Ras Alan, you have touched so many lives through your music; we appreciate you taking time away from your family to share your message with us. It was a pleasure to share such a special evening with you and we hope to have an opportunity to work with you in the future."

"You have been incredible at our school. A R Lewis is so fortunate to have had you here. Thanks again."

"Energetic and kinetic...this music sounds as natural coming from the mountains of North Carolina as the music from the hills of Jamaica's Blue Mountain Range."

"Good examples of homegrown, skanking, Southern reggae."

"People like [NATIVE]...good reaction to it in this city...good work giving us positive vibes."

"Highly uplifting, conscious, roots reggae in a mesmerizing country bluegrass-reggae style. The lyrics capture the true essence of Rasta philosophy- upliftment of the masses."

"All original, homegrown, mountain roots reggae...weaving the traditional reggae sound with the front porch flat-pickin' generally associated with Carolina bluegrass musicians. This group is really something!"

"Ras Alan demonstrates the strength of the music, Reggae, in the heart of Man...an awakening approach to the Oneness of Life."

"Ras Alan is able to weave blues, bluegrass and country elements into his rootsy Reggae fabric. It works!"