“WHAT A WONDERFUL CONNECTION TO ALL OUR HUMANITY”

— THE NEW YORK TIMES

THE EBONY HILLBILLIES - THE PREMIER AFRICAN-AMERICAN STRING BAND IN AMERICA! - www.TheEbonyHillbillies.com

EH tracks

EH Press links

The Ebony Hillbillies rock the crowd at World of Bluegrass Shout & Shine Jam Sep 27, 2017 IBMA's World of Bluegrass held a Shout & Shine jam celebrating diversity that featured several artists, including The Ebony Hillbillies, at The Pour House in downtown Raleigh. -Julia Wall/News Observer  

- - - TO SEE MORE HERE: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZiWBOAHcPS/

"They provide NYC's soundtrack...it's a fact of life..."

-Paul Lieberman, LA Times

”…if you often take the shuttle from Central Park, you’ve probably stopped to listen to an African-American string band called the Ebony Hillbillies, and wished you didn’t have to go to work!”

-The New Yorker Magazine

“They get double takes, if not full pauses when they play!”

-The Wall Street Journal

"They recreate the music you would have heard if you could time travel to a country dance in Mississippi around 1903."

-Mick Gold, BBC/UK
"Joyous, athletic, ancient, modern, and eternal, the Ebony Hillbillies don’t just tell an important story about our country and keep an essential part of our musical heritage alive, but they entertain, magically, majestically, gracefully, and energetically. A pile of passionate, high-end musicians who apply their skill to filling this old tradition with beautiful new life, it’s likely you won’t see a more engaging, entertaining, and purely joyful band all year."  

-Tim Sommer, Sag Harbor Online

THE EBONY HILLBILLIES
From the street corners of Manhattan to the hallowed stages of Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to TV appearances on the BBC and ABC’s “Good Morning America,” The Ebony Hillbillies are a true phenomenon, reviving the lost art form and the American legacy of string band music for a whole new generation.


Continuing to bring a fresh urgency to the genre for a 21st Century world in need of some deep musical education, the most dynamic ensemble lineup to date features Gloria Thomas Gassaway (on vocals and bones), Charlie Burnham (fiddle, vocals) with Jerron Blind Boy Paxton (on banjo, harmonica, guitar, vocals), Iris Thomas (on additional vocals and shaker), acoustic bassist William “Salty Bill” Salter (3x-Grammy-winning co-writer of legendary pop hits like “Where is the Love” and “Just The Two of Us”), Allanah Salter (vocals and shaker) and Reggie "A.R." Ferguson on “cowboy” washboard percussion kit - are on the road supporting their latest full length album, 

5 MILES FROM TOWN [EH MUSIC] -
Critics have touted it as the "African-American Stringband meets Juke Joint..." - Infused with the Hillbillies’ trademark mix of pop, country, bluegrass, folk and jazz, this full-length collection reflects a soulful, gritty and alternately funky, romantic and socially conscious place where toes are always tapping, percussion is slapping, fiddles are jamming, front porch chairs are rocking, banjos are plucking and voices are raised in determination and triumph.
Mixing lively instrumentals and vocals over the course of 11 tracks and 3 alternately playful and hard-hitting snippets/skits, the group performs everything from a down-home fiddle jam (“Hog”), the gentle romantic cautionary tale "Fork in the Road” and an intimate cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” to the incisive social commentaries “Another Man Done Gone (Hands Up Don’t Shoot)” (about black men and police shootings) and “I’m on My Way To Brooklyn,” which rolls as a lighthearted NYC inspired spiritual until the end...and three gunshots.


THE EBONY HILLBILLIES' name started on the streets of Manhattan, but their vibe and influence has extended over the years to acclaimed live performances at legendary venues like Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center; appearances on music documentaries from the BBC about The Blues, The Banjo, etc...), musical performances on Good Morning America, NBC, CBS, ABC networks, etc., International music workshops and festivals, visual artist collaborations at museums (including The Whitney with phenom Kara Walker and The Smithsonian Museum), Guest school educational programs, Foot stomping and Hand-clapping Dance parties and more. In the digital era, they have sold thousands of hard copies of their four unapologetically raucous and raw CDs – Sabrina’s Holiday, I Thought You Knew, Barefoot and Flying and 2015's Slappin’ A Rabbit – Live! – at their shows and via their globally popular website, www.theEbonyHillbillies.com