Meet the Ramblers |
Rick & The Ramblers Western Swing Band:
Rick Norcross, Vocals, Rhythm Guitar |
Everyone says Rick & The Ramblers are at the top of their game right now! Rambler bandleader Rick Norcross is celebrating his 50th year as one of Vermont’s most beloved touring artists, fronting his stellar seven piece western swing band. Rick is paving the way for 2013’s gala 50th Anniversary Celebration with a new batch of Vermont songs he has written for his seventh Airflyte CD release set for May of 2013. In preparation for Rick’s 50th Anniversary Tour of Vermont, the Ramblers’ longtime tour bus, The Pickle, a rare 1957 Flxible Starliner, has been lovingly restored over the past Summer and Fall by Bear Bessette and his team at Wildcat Busing in Hardwick, thanks to an amazing outpouring of donations by Rick’s fans throughout Vermont and the world. And Rick’s 1971 custom-built black D-45 guitar has also been restored by the gifted luthier Dave Nichols over in Waddington, New York in preparation for Rick & The Ramblers’ 2013 festivities. Noted Vermont author Stephen Russell Payne has been at work on the Rick Norcross biography for over nearly two years which will be published in May of 2013, coinciding with the release of the Ramblers’ new CD project. Rick & The Ramblers are booked to perform at some of Vermont’s top events next year - a January 30th Farmer’s Night performance in the House Chamber of the Vermont Statehouse, a late June concert at the Grand Isle lake House, their 23rd appearance at Vermont’s largest Independence Day Celebration on Burlington’s Waterfront on July 3rd and their 11th Marketfest show on Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace, to name just a few. A Rick & The Ramblers Western Swing Band performance is a high energy, entertaining and danceable trip back to a Vermont of a simpler, more musical day. A time of live radio, touring musical revues and family values. A Rambler show is fraught with Vermont-grown original music, classic western swing chestnuts and top-notch musicianship. Each of the Ramblers is an excellent musician in his or her own right. Together Rick & The Ramblers deliver an exceptional musical experience, loaded with laughs, musical memories, surprises and sweet harmonies. |
Rick & The Ramblers travel the region in “The Pickle,” an attention-grabbing 1957 Flxible Starliner tour bus in the style of early western swing legends like Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys. See the Bus page for details abut the “Preserve The Pickle&rdquo restoration project. The Starliner appeared in a Jennifer Love Hewitt ABC-TV bio-pic about the life of Audrey Hepburn and in an MTV pilot called “Live Through This.” Former Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle commandeered the bus and Rick for a tour of the entire State of Vermont during his recent gubernatorial campaign, visiting over 60 towns in all 14 counties in just one week. The whirlwind tour included a trip over Lincoln Gap in the Starliner which gave the old timers at the Lincoln General Store quite a start. Rick & The Ramblers 2013 Tour of Vermont is sponsored in part by their good friends at 98.9WOKO, who have sponsored Rick & The Ramblers Western Swing Band for 27 consecutive years supported by an aggressive promotional campaign on Vermont’s number one Arbitron-rated radio station! Rick & The Ramblers are also sponsored by Free Press Media, publishers of Vermont's largest daily newspaper, The Burlington Free Press. Every Rick & The Ramblers Vermont concert appearance is supported by a series of ads on both WOKO radio and on pages of The Burlington Free Press. 
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Rick Norcross, Vocals, Rhythm Guitar Rick Norcross, longtime leader of Vermont’s premier western swing band, Rick & The Ramblers, performs new songs written for their upcoming CD project celebrating Rick’s 50 years as an internationally-known performer and musician and songs from their acclaimed “I Rode The Ti” CD. Many of his songs are lighthearted snapshots of a lost Vermont. A third generation graduate of Hardwick Academy, Class of ‘63, Norcross began his career performing at The Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe as a “folk singer,” today called a singer/songwriter, for 17 years playing mostly humorous songs, first around northern Vermont before moving on to perform at major folk venues like Club 47 in Boston and The Gaslight in New York City. In June of 1965, he boarded the ocean liner “Empress of England” out of Montreal, and headed for London where he performed for nearly a year in folk clubs all over England under the auspices of London City Agency (who also handled one other American folk singer, Paul Simon). Norcross was “Master of Ceremonies” at Paul Simon’s “Going Away Party” at Les Cousins in London in February of 1966. He returned for three more British tours playing over 60 folk clubs into 1974 when he began working Summers out of Burlington and Winters out of Tampa, Florida for the next 20 years. When the “Great Folk Scare of the 60s” receded, Norcross turned to performing in band configurations, continuing to perform many of his own songs in a western swing genre, a natural extension of his favorite music, combining folk, country, swing, blues and jazz in a dancable, up-tempo, audience-friendly sound. Fronting his longtime seven piece group, Rick &The Ramblers Western Swing Band, Norcross has performed many hundreds of shows around the region over the years including 59 concerts in Vermont State Parks over the past 13 years, 14 First Night Burlington shows, six appearances at the WOKO Country Club Music Festivals at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds, four performances on Vermont Day at the Eastern States Expositon and 22 times prior to Vermont’s largest fireworks show on Burlington’s Waterfront on the 3rd of July. In May of 2010, Rick was invited to perform a solo 10-day tour of British folk clubs in Murcia, Spain by an old friend who booked him into folk clubs in England back in the 60s. The experience rekindled his love of playing folk venues. He has since performed at house concerts, Vermont History Expo, The Music Box, The Palmer Street Coffeehouse, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and at the UU Dome in Tampa, Florida. |
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Vocalist Taryn Noelle is the Ramblers' Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Taryn was invited to join the Ramblers seven years ago to bring her sultry voice, her commanding stage presence and her audience-melting smile to our stages. She is featured on three songs on the “I Rode The Ti” CD, “Swing of the Range,” “Never Be Anyone Else” and “Right or Wrong” and is gaining a growing legion of fans who love to hear her sing Patsy Cline tunes. “Luminous, Evocative, Poignant and Soulful” are words spoken about this talented young singer, actress, dancer and choreographer. Originally from Toronto, Taryn has studied dance, theatre and voice with acclaimed New York and Vermont vocal teacher Bill Reed and at the renowned Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York City. After years of playing leading roles in American Musical Theatre, she returned to Vermont to focus on her love of singing, playing on her considerable talent as a jazz and cabaret vocalist. In addition to her day job as House Manager and Box Office Coordinator at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, she also works locally and regionally as a dance teacher, choreographer and stage and film actor. She was showered with rave reviews for her recent lead performance as Sally Bowles in “Cabaret” at the University of Vermont’s Royal Tyler Theater. Some favorite onstage roles to date have been; Grace in Vermont Stage Company’s production of Opus and as Dominique in The Skinner Barn’s production of Lucky Stiff. Taryn has recorded two of her own jazz CDs and, in addition to her starring position with the Ramblers, frequently performs with the very fab jazz vocal trio, The Blue Gardenias. Rambler Taryn Noelle is simply... Terrific. Learn more about Taryn by visiting her Web Site: www.tarynnoelle.com |
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Charlie MacFadyen, Piano, Accordion, Lap Steel In the tradition of the late, great Light Crust Doughboys piano player Knocky Parker, Charlie MacFadyen is the musical backbone of Rick & The Rambers. Whether he’s building the energy with his masterful piano playing, his western accordion moves and now, his 1950s lap steel guitar, Charlie gets the Rambers and the audience swinging. He was educated at Oberlin College (math & music) and was the piano player for the Burlington rockabilly and swing band Buck & the Black Cats. Originally from New York, Charlie has lived in Burlington since 1992 and by day is a high school math teacher and techie at CVU in Hinesburg. Besides holding down the stage right position on the Ramblers’ team, Charlie plays accordion with the jazz quartet Combo 37. His latest project is raising a piano trio at home with his two sons on bass and drums. He prefers the old-fashioned swing, boogie and honky-tonk piano styles in the tradition of Moon Mullican and Al Stricklin which fits the sound of the Ramblers like a sequined glove. Charlie outdid himself creating the swinging arrangements on the new Ramblers “I Rode The Ti” CD project. |
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Rambler Doug Reid started violin lessons at fourteen when was listening to jazz/swing master Stephane Grappelli. Doug says he's excited to be at the stage in his career when he can devote himself to the fine points of this lyrical style. Classically trained, he spent many years as a touring side man in country & western bands out of Southern California, Austin, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia. He has opened for many major acts in country music. While living in Texas, he studied jazz and composition at North Texas State University and played with several of Bob Wills' Texas Playboys, including Joe Holley and Johnny Gimble. Doug spent seven years as a feature performer at the Jim Stafford Show, in Branson, Missouri, where he was alternately comedy writer, arranger, Music Director, and head of Special Effects. Doug performed with the Paris Swing Orchestra of New York for four years at the annual Bastille Day Celebration on 60th Street. He returned home to Vermont in 1999 and currently resides in Wheelock in the Northeast Kingdom. |
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Buck Maynard, Lead Guitar, Vocals Buck Maynard first picked up the guitar during his last year of high school, in Colchester, Vermont. After graduating in 1987, he went on to the University of Vermont, where his interest in music took a firm hold with a stint on UVM's radio station WRUV. His two hour show, The Mystery Train, opened his ears to many roots based styles and led to seven years as front-man and eventual lead guitarist in Vermont's Buck & The Black Cats along with Rambler keyboard wizard Charlie MacFadyen. After playing Rockabilly and a little Western Swing in his first band, Buck played swing jazz guitar in Burlington's Combo 37. He now plays a mixture of Gypsy Swing, American Songbook classic, and French Chanson in Trio Gusto. His love of many, different swing-based guitar styles makes him a welcome addition to the Ramblers, where his smooth guitar playing fits like a glove, playing classic Western Swing and Country guitar with hints of Luther Perkins, Chet Atkins and Hillbilly Jazz whiz, Jimmy Bryant. |
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Dave Rowell, Vocals, Bass Guitar By day, an unassuming account executive with Morrisville country music station WLVB, a north country realtor and a spirited country auctioneer. By night and onstage... one wicked talented bass player and spot-on lead and harmony vocalist. Dave Rowell brings more than 18 years experience as a longtime member of one of Central Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom's favorite traditional country bands, the WDEV Radio Rangers. The WDEV Radio Rangers have performed on the air every Saturday morning at 10:30 on WDEV since 1986 and are a favorite at community events all over the region. Dave hails from East Craftsbury where his musical roots run deep. His family founded the Craftsbury Chamber Players over 40 years ago and his sister Mary is Concertmaster at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and occasionally tours with Cheryl Crow. Dave brings a love of real country music to the table and knows more songs than an iPod Classic. He has quickly become a favorite vocalist on Rambler shows with his smooth as silk delivery in addition to holding down the bass position in the rhythm section. |
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A grateful denizen of Newark, deep in the Northeast Kingdom, Brett has been a drummer since 1964, when he first picked up sticks to emulate his favorite timekeepers of the British Invasion. Brett took a ride three years ago on the Rambler tour bus, affectionately known as “The Pickle,” as a sub drummer for a concert at Lake St. Catherine State Park in Poultney just below Rutland. It wasn't just the color of his drum kit (turquoise) or his jovial nature that immediately endeared him to the Ramblers, it was his rock-solid drum style and innate feel for the western swing genre that made him such a delight. Brett expressed an interest in playing with the Ramblers and when an opening appeared shortly thereafter, he was immediately invited to ride The Pickle as a regular Rambler. On hearing Hoagy Carmichael's famous song, “Moonlight In Vermont”, Brett took the title as career advice, and so today you'll find him also making music (moonlighting from his teaching position) with the Slant Six Swing Band, the Dave Keller Band and now, Rick & The Ramblers Western Swing Band. |
