THE NASHVILLE RAMBLERS LIVE! — TWO SHOWS!
BROOKLYN, NY and SAN DIEGO, CALIF DECEMBER 29th, 2008! JANUARY 2nd, 2009!
We're best known for "The Trains", a song which appears in the recent Rhino Records box set, "Children of Nuggets". The tune originally was released on a 1986 UK-only compilation, "American Heart & Soul" on Hi-Lo Records. The track was also bootlegged on two Bomp Records compilations, "The Roots of Power Pop", and "Its a Mod, Mod, World" in the mid-1990s.
The band is, and has always been Tom Ward, Ron Silva, and Carl Rusk — who wrote all of the original material for the group. The Nashville Ramblers are also known for their ability to play marathon sets of obscure, mid-Sixites pop music — carefully chosen to fit their unique take on British Beat, American folk-rock, garage, and early rock & roll.
We started in 1985 in San Diego, California as teenagers (well, Ron was a bit older), later we all moved to New York City, and then San Francisco, while playing under the name The Black Diamonds. Recent notable gigs include The Las Vegas Grind in 2000, and The Wild Weekend in Benidorm, Spain in November 2004.
The group never really broke up, though separated geographically. At the moment, Tom is in New York City, Carl is residing in upstate New York, and Ron is in Alameda, California.
Ron Silva lived in Point Loma and founded the Crawdaddys in the late 1970's; Carl, who also attended Point Loma High School, joined with Ron in 1981 to form a 1961 Hamburg-style band called The Hedgehogs with future Tell Tale Heart singer Ray Brandes. Carl and Ray went on to form The Mystery Machine in 1983, who later became The Tell Tale Hearts when Carl left the band to attend art school in San Francisco. Tom sported a Vox violin bass on behalf of the Gravedigger V, before being recruited by Ron and Carl to be a part of the group. We had always wanted to be a four-piece, ideally with the addition of an organ, or Wurlitzer Electric Piano, but the right extra person never showed up.
More Info on Carl's site: www.carlrusk.com