OMG it's been wayyy too long. So thanks for keeping up with us... what's new? Or semi-new... we had a great time playing in Des Moines at Gas Lamp. Like awesome, thanks so much folks for coming out during a tornado weekend! We're working on a new CD, first the "EP" will have Memphis Blues, What Kind of Love, and Love is a Word. Memphis Blues is an early piece by W.C. Handy, though some say he more appropriated a popular tune, either way, it's fab, we are doing an original version...i.e. not the one that was written after someone tricked him into selling the copyrights. I put together a really nice arrangement based on a lead sheet, it gets folks up to dance all the time, so I'm lookin' forward to putting it out on the street... next What Kind of Love is from a musical I wrote called Green Fence; what does it feel like to love someone who probably can't love you back, or won't love you back, or either way... it's never a great feeling to have so much emotion put into something that can only take... it features some nice wind duos/solos and a "bello" which is a cello strung like a bass. and Love is a Word, old style country from a play called Love of Last Resort. we'll be heading back to Iowa to play live in KRUI, a radio station at the U of Iowa, and then up to Minneapolis to play at the Twin Cities Deep Roots Rock & Blues Festival. We've been fortunate to walk into a few high profile gigs, plus get a good reputation for playing ragtime and music of that era... original music and obscure rag tunes can be a hard sell, so I am grateful for the reception. So our EP release party is June 30 at Stone Spiral. see ya there! or somewhere.... or just keep listening, thanks for your support!!

CD Release Party!

Our CD Release party is Sept 3 at Stone Spiral, 2500 Sutton in Maplewood, MO. so if you've been thinking of coming to hear us, that would be a good time. no one wants to party with an empty house... so we'd love some support. You're not obligated to buy a CD but it can't hurt. We'll start around 6ish and play the music on the CD a couple times. plus who knows what else?

Stone Spiral has some fun eats/drinks... little pizzas and scones and wraps and coffee and some local artist stuff for sale. They've been really supportive of us over the last couple years which is why we wanted to have the release there. only a couple songs to lay down and we're ready to mass produce and sell millions of CDs! Or hundreds, or dozens... or... or...

Who we are

I haven't used this blog to mention who's playing. Part of me figures it's listed in a lot of places, but we wouldn't have a band without the players.

Blue, vocals
Lee Borrine, saxes (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone)
Tiffany Borrine, bass
Isaac Cherry, drums
Jerry Rabushka, keys and vocals, sometimes trumpet
Berrell Spade, guitar
Scott Splater, clarinet (Bb and A)
Shawn Telkamp, vocals

thanks to all current and former members for their time and talent!

If you're reading this and have any questions, feel free to ask.

Here's the songs recently recorded by the band

We're on TV!

We were excited (and a bit nervous) to perform live on the Tim Ezell show on Fox 2, KTVI Channel 2 St. Louis. We got to do a section of Good Times Comin' Round to help promote "Cheers To The Troops," a USO Benefit on July 30 at the S. Broadway Athletic club at 6 pm, where we are one of about 6 rotating acts.

Band on TV!

Keeping myself up to date, and you, too...

We've been busy; we played a show at The Soundpony in Tulsa, which is mainly a rock venue, and has some great acoustics! The day before there was a 12 hour rock festival, so many of their crowd was too tired out to come back, but we still had a great time! Also some of us visited the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, which is a wealth of information about jazz musicians and composers from the state. We talked to some of the folks in charge and it's likely we'll be able to play a concert in their venue, which is a pretty nice place downtown, in what looks like an old train depot. Perfect place for jazz...

We've recorded a few songs now: Letter From Liberia, To Feel Your Touch, Grave Injustices, Buck Street Blues, and Good Times Comin' Round. If you want the full experience, click up here

http://soundcloud.com/theraggedbladeband/sets

and there ya go! all the songs will play one after the other...

also check out some new videos at

www.youtube.com/user/theraggedbladeband

We're excited to be playing at The Stone Spiral this Saturday, July 16, plus on July 30 a benefit for the USO in south city. This will feature lots of performers and we'll be the house band, pulling out some 40s tunes and our own originals. Well ok some of our 40s tunes are 30s tunes, but they may have been played in the 40s so we're good. Shhhh!

After that, August 6 at Llwellyn's in the Central West End.

So Letter From Liberia is one of the few songs out there written about e-mail fraud. Certainly you've got the email from someone who wants you to help them bring in millions of dollars... just give them all your personal information and you'll get 10% of the thirty million they're trying to squirrel out of the county. Easy! And a great topic for a tune every now and then.

We're on Youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRaggedbladeband

Our first recordings for the new CD are online at the above link! We're really proud of how it came out, so far reaction's been pretty good, so take a listen and enjoy! If you like there's options to purchase the songs online and even get your own ring-tone. Plus if you can recommend a venue that might be good for that kind of music please drop a line, comment, etc.

Our last show at The Blue Agave was awesome! Great place & great people.

One of my pet projects is to put together a set of W.C. Handy songs. We've already got St. Louis Blues, Memphis Blues/Mr. Crump, Yellow Dog Blues (which we premiered at Blue Agave), and I hope to add Beale Street to that mix in the next month or three. We're also trying to put together an old Chris Smith song (well all Chris Smith songs are old by now) called "Good Bye I'll See You Some More." It's from 1905. Smith is most famous for "Ballin' the Jack" but he's got several others that were hits in the day. There are a lot of orchestral rag arrangements from back in the day, and I've taken some of those and arranged them for our group.

If you like the songs & video, please repost, spread the word, and of course, BUY BUY BUY! (everyone tells me not to be shy about saying BUY!)

Next shows:
Jerry plays solo at Gypsy Coffee House in Tulsa in May 20 at about 9:30
Band plays at North City Farmer's Market in St. Louis, June 4 at 10:00 a.m. If we can get up, so can you.

thanks as always for your support!