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Uncle Monk by Uncle Monk
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fave it Country Folk | Bluegrass
14 tracks | 42 minutes
Released Mar 2006
on Airday Records
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- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:49 Round the Bend lyrics BUY MP3 02:49 Round the Bend lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:49 Round the Bend
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:32 Emotional Needs lyrics BUY MP3 02:32 Emotional Needs lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:32 Emotional Needs
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:53 Happy Tune lyrics BUY MP3 02:53 Happy Tune lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:53 Happy Tune
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:26 Home Sweet Reality lyrics BUY MP3 02:26 Home Sweet Reality lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:26 Home Sweet Reality
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:32 Mean to Me lyrics BUY MP3 02:32 Mean to Me lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:32 Mean to Me
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:25 Airday lyrics BUY MP3 03:25 Airday lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:25 Airday
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:13 Need a Life lyrics BUY MP3 04:13 Need a Life lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:13 Need a Life
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:49 Heaven lyrics BUY MP3 02:49 Heaven lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:49 Heaven
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:29 Name of the Game lyrics BUY MP3 03:29 Name of the Game lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:29 Name of the Game
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:59 Mr. Endicott lyrics BUY MP3 02:59 Mr. Endicott lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:59 Mr. Endicott
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:18 Urban Renewal lyrics BUY MP3 02:18 Urban Renewal lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:18 Urban Renewal
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:20 Walking Bandit lyrics BUY MP3 02:20 Walking Bandit lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:20 Walking Bandit
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:12 Bright Fluorescent lyrics BUY MP3 03:12 Bright Fluorescent lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:12 Bright Fluorescent
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:08 Wishing At the Moon lyrics BUY MP3 04:08 Wishing At the Moon lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:08 Wishing At the Moon
Alt-Country, Progressive Bluegrass, Old-Timey music by Tommy Ramone & Claudia Tienan.
Editorial review
If, as high school guidance counselors and human resources directors like to say, the average person will have several different careers over the course of life, Tom Erdelyi is a good example. Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1952, he grew up in the Forest Hills section of the borough of Queens in New York City and became an engineer at the famed Record Plant recording studio. Then, he began managing a group of friends who became famed punk rock group the Ramones, later leaving his business duties to take up the drums and the pseudonym Tommy Ramone. After their albums Ramones, Ramones Leave Home, and Rocket to Russia, he withdrew to become the group's producer and reclaimed his real name. Now, he is the sole surviving founding member of the band, and one half of the new duo Uncle Monk, along with Claudia Tienan, a former member of the Simplistics. For this project, Erdelyi has hung up his leather jacket, let his now gray hair curl down his back, grown a beard, and adopted a cowboy hat. (He's still wearing jeans, though.) And instead of drumming, he is overdubbing mandolin, banjo, dobro, fiddle, and guitar on an album devoted to original compositions performed in a strictly bluegrass/traditional country style. There's nothing here for Ramones fans to grab onto, beyond the occasionally pugnacious lyrical sentiment. Erdelyi and Tienan are more impressive as instrumentalists than as vocalists, their arrangements harking back to many old-timey predecessors. Their singing harks back, too, to the semi-professional, untrained sound of country singers who only pursued music as a part-time occupation. If there is any consistency in Erdelyi's long career in various aspects of the music business, it may be that he prefers to take music to its most basic possible level and re-create it from the ground up. Uncle Monk is no Ramones, but it represents another simplified approach to a familiar musical style. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Bio / Background
Uncle Monk is an alt-country progressive bluegrass duo featuring Tommy Ramone on vocals, mandolin, guitar, banjo and dobro, and Claudia Tienan on vocals, guitar and bass. Uncle Monk's music is rooted in old-time and bluegrass influences. To this mix they have added unique musical textures to create a sound with a new sensibility.
Tommy Ramone began his musical career as Tom Erdelyi an engineer at the Record Plant recording studios. In the musical doldrums of the 70's he, along with the great Johnny, Joey and Dee Dee Ramone, formed the rock group Ramones and participated in the birth of New Wave, Punk Rock, and Alternative music. As manager, producer and drummer for the band, Tommy Ramone helped create the sound, style and ideology for what was to become modern rock. Claudia Tienan, formerly with the group The Simplistics, is a partner with Tommy Ramone in Uncle Monk. Her penetrating lyrics and haunting vocals add facets and dimension to the songs.
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