Fran Kent- Guitar, Vocals
Matt Gray-Banjo ,Vocals
Jason Mellow-Bass
Jeff Shippy-Fiddle
Fran Kent
Jason Mellow
Matt Gray
Jeff Shippy
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Many Many People. Not listed in any paricular order. They are all very important to us. Here are just a few:
New Grass Revival, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Pat Flynn, John Cowan, Tony Rice, Ralph Stanley, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs...Did we say New Grass Revival? Pete Wernick, Hot Rize, Infamous String Dusters, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Cherryholmes, Steeldrivers, Kruger Brothers, Nickel Creek, Tony Trischka, Alison Krauss, Alison Brown, Claire Lynch, Mountain Heart, Lonesome River Band, Bluegrass Etc, etc...
Aimee Mann, Gillian Welch, John Bryon, the Posies, the Hives
MUSICAL EXCITEMENT
"Musical excitment distilled to its purest form"
The Portland Comet
SPARK
"...Urban Monroes is a band to watch out for. They've got that "spark" that sets a band apart."
- NW Bluegrass
SIMPLY SPLENDID
"absolutely crisp and so well-done. The combination of original and traditional tunes (and fine arrangements of them at that) is simply splendid"
Karen Olch, KRVM Radio Eugene
POWER AND FINESSE
"Witty, charming...the band demonstrated an acoustic mixture of power and finesse"
-The Statesman Journal for Salem Art Fair
HIGH AND LONESOME SOUND
"The Urban Monroes had that high lonesome sound down to a science with a silken-throated lead singer."
Journalist Sarah Hagerman, Jambase for StringSummit
PEOPLE WERE JUST BLOWN AWAY
"I don't even know how to let you know what kinds of responses I've received about your performance Saturday night.
People were just blown away--not just a few----MANY!.
It just made the evening be what I always hope it would be."
Sharon Sandgren-Gresham Little Theater
THE FUTURE OF BLUEGRASS
"Solid instrumentals and wonderful vocals...The future of bluegrass."
David Peterson-Amboy Bluegrass Festival Director
TOP SHELF
"Top shelf! and you can quote me on that!” Gracie Muldoon World Wide Bluegrass
BIO
“We loved you, the audience loved you,” Patrice O’Neil, owner and producer of Wintergrass, the largest indoor bluegrass festival west of the Mississippi.
Fashioned from the heart of tradition and infused with adrenaline, the Urban Monroes’ bluegrass style combines the skills of some of the Pacific Northwest's finest talent. Fast-paced and highly energetic, the band performs both original and traditional bluegrass with a style and delivery uniquely its own.
As individuals the Urban Monroes have earned songwriting awards, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and bluegrass instrument championships. They have been featured on the Emmy award winning PBS series Art Beat and their musical experiences have taken them around the world. As a band they have excited audiences from some of bluegrass’ biggest venues with a fully charged stage presence and an intricate delivery. Chris Palmer, owner and producer of River City (Oregon’s largest bluegrass festival) said of the Urban Monroes, “You are magic together.”
Appearing on the national bluegrass deejay’s list of most played bands prompted two single releases on Poetman Records. Their belief in the Urban Monroes’ sound and appeal caused the label to add them to a mix that included David Grisman and Pete Seeger and this returned hundreds of chartable radio spins.
-read full bio at the band website www.urbanmonroes.com
Urban Monroes's Top Friend Space
Urban Monroes has 7005 friends.
Don't have a Facebook site yet, but a lot of my friends do, so I'll probably open one before long. You'll be among my first new friends there. Hope all is well; try not to burn out on the road! Let me know if you play near Lincoln and I'll try to catch the show and meet you.
Hello, I never made a facebook page. Although I am on twitter as a support for the myspace page if you guys have one of those. Keep making cool music guys. A friend of mine from Florida just got heavily into bluegrass music. He got a banjo and everything.
Yes, ma'am, I am on Facebook. It took me awhile to get into it. Now have my brothers and some cousins on there so we can make really silly jokes and laugh at each other's baby pictures.
Happy Thanksgiving to my friends out in the Great Northwest!
Stopping by to say hello and I hope that you have a great weekend. I love your song When the Aspens Turn. Also, I heard your version of the Grinch on the radio the other day.
Hi Fran , thank you so much for your kind comments about my new songs...really glad that you liked them. Cd's still not finished (will add Brooks harmony vocals to some of the tracks when I go to Atlanta next month) but I wanted to get something up.
Thats so cool that you're rcording "White Freightliner Blues" too. The reason I did was that there was a guy at Brook's Annual Fall Fling this past October that drove in with his ENORMOUS White Freightliner CAMPER RV!! I'd never seen a camper like this thing and he said it cost over a half million dollars!! He also had two of the largest Great Dane dogs I've ever seen (said the dogs gave him the excuse to buy the rv haha)). Anyway, he was a really nice guy....sooo, on the spot I decided to sing the song for him on stage. I kinda knew it, did it in an open tuning and it went over well so I kept doing it. I love a lot of Townes Van Zandt's work and he use to sing in Luckenbach (where I'll be next week).
I cant wait to hear your version of it. I kept listening to your songs this morning and just love the way you do "Little Maggie" (one of the best versions anywhere...ever!!!) GREAT JOB!!! Hopefully we will actually cross paths on the trail next year. Until then...Happy Trails to you my friend :))
How do, Miss Fran? Just letting you know that Old Grumpy here is going off Myspace soon. I will check in somehow 'cause I sure don't want to lose track of some of my favorite folks!
Wishing you all the very best. You are amazing. From Meg and kids
