Ragbirds aim to fly at Columbus concert

By Sara Bradley

bradley.249@osu.edu

Published: Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Updated: Wednesday, May 4, 2011 23:05

Inside of an eco-friendly, vegetable-oil-fueled tour bus are five band members with the ability to use eight different instruments, and they’re headed for Columbus.

The Ragbirds will play at Woodlands Tavern in Grandview Heights at 11 p.m.

The Ragbirds combine influences of folk, pop and rock with a Celtic feel. Frontwoman Erin Zindle said in an email she was inspired by artists such as Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel and Rusted Root.

Zindle leads the band, providing vocals and playing the violin, mandolin, banjo, accordion and percussion. Zindle’s husband Randall Moore provides percussion and her brother T.J. Zindle plays guitar. In addition to Erin, T.J. and Moore, the band has Brian Crist on bass and Loren Kranz on drums.

Since their start as just Moore and Erin in 2005, the lineup has changed and so has their sound, thanks to their time on the road.

The major transition in their music came when T.J. joined in 2008. Erin said his influences brought more electric guitar causing the sound to gain a little edge, shifting toward a rock-and-roll feel.

“The road has been the major catalyst for change. As we have been touring for the last few years, we play between 150-200 shows a year, we have been able to experience how the music relates to many different audiences,” Erin said in the email.

The show at Woodlands Tavern will include songs from their fourth studio album, 2009’s “Finally Almost Ready.”

Audience members can expect a folk rock sound infused with a little bit of rock-and-roll. The songs are “fun, danceable and diverse,” Erin said in an email.

The five band members travel around the country in a Ford E-350 diesel bus that they converted to run on recycled waste vegetable oil in 2008. The bus is named “Cecilia” after the patron saint of music.

In an email, Erin said it has always been important to the band to reduce its impact on the Earth. In the course of a year with 200 tour stops, the band travels more than 100,000 miles.

“We’re able to drastically cut our dependence on gas while at the same time helping our pocket book,” Joe Choma, band manager, said in an email.

The band also avoids using plastic water bottles and made each of their albums with recycled materials.

The Ragbirds raise money to fund their albums and tours through Kickstarter.com, a website that connects artists, musicians and others with potential donors to fund projects. This year, the band has received $14,000 from fans to continue their tours.

The Ragbirds attempt to have their audiences “laugh, smile, dance, and enjoy a high-energy show featuring diverse sounds from around the world,” Choma said in the email.

Woodlands Tavern patrons must be at least 18 years old. The tavern is located at 1200 W. 3rd Ave and tickets for the show, starting at 11 p.m., are $10 at the door.

The Ragbirds Columbus Woodlands Tavern The Lantern World beat folk music

Ragbirds fly to Finn’s

Written by Vincent Scebbi | | vscebbi@toledofreepress.com

From her teenage days of listening to Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel and Sting, worldly instruments have been a major influence in Erin Zindle’s music career.

“My love for world music started around then, as a teenager. I started writing songs around then and as I’ve grown over the years, these sounds I’m so emerged in and in love with have kind of found their own way into my songs and my writing in one way or another,” she said.

Zindle is the frontwoman, fiddler, banjo and mandolin player of the Ann Arbor based Ragbirds, who are set to play its 8:30 p.m. gig at Mickey Finn’s April 21.

The Ragbirds are defined by its website as a fusion of folk rock with some danceable beats along with Zindle’s Celtic style fiddle playing.

“[The audience] can expect to see a diverse range of music but there is also a common thread throughout, which mostly has to do with my vocal and violin parts,” Zindle said. “One may be a tango and the next is an African drum piece and the next is Latin. It keeps people interested and it’s a lot of fun for us.”

While studying her family’s roots and culture, Zindle learned more about Celtic music, another influence. Aside from its typical song list, the Ragbirds bring styles such as Latin dance and African drum pieces. Each member plays a drum and Zindle said it helps establish communication between the band mates during the set.

“The music is polyrhythmic and you have a whole bunch of people listening to each other really well to make the piece make sense,” she said. “It’s a good thing to learn. I found out the players change over the years, but every time we get a new player we teach them the African drum pieces and it’s just a good way to rehearse and tighten up as a band.”

Aside from Zindle, the Ragbirds is comprised of guitarist T.J. Zindle, brother of the frontwoman, Brian Crist on bass, Loren Kranz on drumset and Erin Zindle’s husband Randall Moore as a general percussionist.

The married couple met prior to the formation of the Ragbirds while traveling in similar musical circles. Moore was a guest performer in Zindle’s former band. When that group split, the duo played in a few different bands together as well as street performing in Ann Arbor.

“As we were dating we would perform in the street for tips in downtown Ann Arbor and get enough money for cocktails later in the night,” Moore said. “We definitely bonded over music.”

The band name, coined by Zindle, comes from an unexplainable childhood fascination with birds.

The band is raising funds for its fourth studio album, with help through the Kickstarter program. Kickstarter is the world’s largest fundraising project for artists ranging from literature to fine arts to performing musicians.

Moore said the artist sets a fundraising goal and fans, friends and family are able to make pledges to help fund the project.

“We used Kickstarter as a way to get our fans involved in the recording process and it also helped raise money to help us because we’re an independent band and we’re recording solely on our own is a very expensive process,” he said. “Instead of going into debt over it, we decided to use Kickstarter.”

The Ragbirds’ goal of $10,000 was met recently and as of April 19, more than $13,000 has been raised, according to the band’s website.

Moore said they were able to raise money quickly through an incentive program ranging from autographed albums to merchandise and the largest incentive being a private performance by the Ragbirds.

“We’re really blessed by the amount of supporters,” Moore said.

The Ragbirds Mickey Finns Toledo Folk World Beat Gypsy Roots

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

We have been hard at work writing and arranging an exciting collection of new songs and we’re eager to share them with you! The songs are inspired by our many travels and tell stories about the experiences of being on the road across America. And much like the land we have been traversing, the sounds are colorful and diverse, drawn from spiritual influences and cultures around the world.

We are and always have been an independent band, touring for a living as often and as far as we can manage. Without a record label, faced with funding this project out of our own pockets, we have decided to look to our fans and supporters for help through Kickstarter.

In order to get these songs recorded, produced and released we have set a minimum monetary goal of $10,000. We plan to work with Jim Roll at Backseat Productions right here in our hometown of Ann Arbor. (Jim has worked with Frontier Ruckus, Breathe Owl Breathe, Chris Bathgate, Hoots & Hellmouth, and many more fabulous artists!)

Recording an album goes far beyond the cost of studio time. There are many factors and costs involved, including Publicity/Press, Artwork, Duplication, Mixing and Mastering.

If we happen to exceed our minimum goal the door is open to work once again with Phil Nicolo for the mixing and mastering of our new record. Phil has worked with Billy Joel, Aerosmith, James Taylor, The Rolling Stones, Lauryn Hill, the Fugees, Cypress Hill, Kriss Kross and Wyclef Jean, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Amy Grant, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Santana and too many more to name. We can also consider paying for more eco-friendly packaging and different options for art, advertising (including putting a song on the CMJ and other samplers), and vinyl.

This is really all about community. It’s like investing in a farmer’s seeds before they are planted so that you can eat when the harvest comes. We have been humbled and blessed by the love and support we have been shown throughout the years and we are truly grateful for your support in this new endeavor.

The Ragbirds Kickstarter

The Ragbirds Royal Oak Music Theatre 3/5/2011

The Ragbirds Tim Carbone Railroad Earth Royal Oak Music Theatre

Railroad Earth The Ragbirds Royal Oak Music Theatre

The Ragbirds The Ark Ann Arbor

musiccityroots on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

The Ragbirds Music City Roots Nashville

The Ragbirds work a global mix of styles 

Erin Zindle guides the Ragbirds through worldwide grooves

by T. Ballard Lesemann

Listening to the Ragbirds’ latest studio album Finally Almost Ready is a pleasure. Trying to define their musical style is a challenge. Led by petite but strong-voiced singer and violinist Erin Zindle, the Michigan-based ensemble adds more than a few outlandish elements of world music into their groove-based rock.

“We have a hard time describing what we do,” says Zindle, speaking last week from a soundcheck in Tampa during their latest tour. “Our little catchphrase is ‘infectious global groove,’ which gives you the idea but falls short of really defining the big picture. In simple terms, we’ll say it’s folk-rock with a lot of world music influence. Those are general terms, but helps explain how the Celtic, gypsy, African, and Latin influences come into it.”

The Ragbirds recently completed a seven-week “eco-tour” of the West Coast and Midwest in their converted diesel van, which runs on waste vegetable oil. They supported Rusted Root on many of the dates. Their current trip winds through the Southeast.

Zindle says he and her bandmates have a fondness for the Pour House. They performed at the venue twice last year. This week, they open for Charlotte, N.C.’s New Familiars.

“My husband and I actually went on our honeymoon in Charleston,” says Zindle. “We stayed on the Isle of Palms, visited the downtown area, and caught Railroad Earth at the Pour House one evening. We even ate at the restaurant next door [El Bohio]. It’s such a great memory for us, so it’s really fun to return with the Ragbirds for these shows. That place is a sweet spot for us.”

Zindle started playing piano at a very young age while growing up in Buffalo, N.Y. She learned the basics before switching to violin at the age of nine. She learned to read sheet music, studied classical composers, and eventually expanded her musical vocabulary with more international styles.

“In high school, I started going through this phase where I wanted to study my family history,” she says. “My family is Irish, so I really got into Celtic folk music. I also got into African drumming around the same time. Getting into various types of gypsy violin music, tangos, and more sensual and exotic forms came next. It’s taken some time to learn the technique and to dig into the emotional depth to play those kinds of songs.”

Zindle started writing poetry at a young age as well. The experience led to her lyrical work and songwriting style with the band. “I actually tend to start with the lyrics,” she says. “Sometimes they tell me where the song should go and define the style that the songs should take.”

After moving to Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1997, Zindle started performing with a variety of odd combos, including the acoustic world-folk group Madison Greene, the experimental gypsy ensemble the Psalters, and the Ypsilanti-based rock/reggae/bluegrass band Rootstand. The Ragbirds took shape in 2005.

“When we started out, I had ideas for songs and I started recording them right away with whatever musicians could help out,” says Zindle. “We actually had them for sale at our first show. I guess that’s a backwards way to start a band. Over the years, we’ve had different musicians in the band, but when my brother, T.J., joined in 2008, he added a lot of ides to what we were doing and things took off from there.”

The current Ragbirds lineup features Erin on lead vocals, violin, mandolin, banjo, accordion, and percussion; T.J. on electric and acoustic guitars; Randall Moore on percussion; and a newly installed rhythm section of Brian Krist on bass and Lorin Kranz on drums.

“Everybody is kind of trained up on hand percussion as well,” says the lead singer. “We incorporate drums and different rhythms from around the world in every show we do.

Released in 2009, Finally Almost Ready seems to draw a little from everything “worldly” into the mix. Zindle and the band emulate the breezy groove-pop of Edie Brickell on “Anywhere” and the African-infused dance-rock of David Byrne and Paul Simon on “Onyame Kokroko.” Accordions, castanets, and Latin rhythms dominate the title track. Zindle singles la-la-las over the waltzy, mandolin-driven “Around the Time.” Things get upbeat and almost panicky on the exotic, gypsy-tinged “Book of Matches” (a song that reached the top of the radio charts in Japan last year). Elements of funk and reggae propel the slow-bouncin’ “Get In.”

“It wasn’t so much a design from the beginning to use all these different styles,” Zindle says. “It really came together naturally. There are so many styles of music that I’ve listened to over the years. I was always drawn to music that takes me someplace special — music with exotic sounds from indigenous cultures. The creative fun comes with trying to twist things around and using them in your own music.”

The Ragbirds Charleston Charleston City Paper Pourhouse