KUNC 91.5 FM picks Colorado Music Buzz magazine picks
Who knew that a chance meeting between two young women at a folk music and dance camp would result in a decade of friendship and an outpouring of creativity? In 1997, Kristin Andreassen and KC Groves met on the front steps of Gribble Hall at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia. It wasn’t long before they were trading steps and singing old country songs.
There is a recording of one of their first jam sessions where some unidentified person asked, “Are you two in a band?” There was some giggling and the answer was “no.” However, the answer should have been “not yet,” for it was a few years later in 2004 that Kristin joined KC’s band, Uncle Earl. “It was really Kristin’s old-time sense of rhythm from her years of clogging that sealed the deal on the Uncle Earl sound,” notes KC.
Since then, Uncle Earl, with band mates Rayna Gellert and Abigail Washburn, has toured the world and dazzled crowds from the Kennedy Center to the Rhyman Auditorium. The band eventually gained the attention and respect of John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin who produced their latest album, Waterloo, Tennessee.
While not touring with Uncle Earl, both Kristin and KC have had busy and successful solo careers. Between the the two of them, they clog (Kristin was a member of the prestigious Footworks Dance Ensemble), fiddle, and play guitar, mandolin, and ukulele. They have both gained respect as songwriters as Kristin recently won the John Lennon Song writing contest and KC was a finalist in the 2000 Telluride Troubadour Competition.
While Uncle Earl is taking some well-deserved time off this summer, KC and Kristin are going to be playing some shows together. This show is sure to include some Uncle Earl material as well as showcase their songwriting and sister-like harmonies, and will include some very special surprise guests.
