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The Rock River Gypsies

You may need to turn your speakers up a tad, g

About Me

The Rock River Gypsies were originally born out of informal jam sessions at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. A band since 2004, Ryan Babarsky, Jared Lawson, Matt Kauper, Chris Smith, and Gina Sobel, known as the “Gypsies,” bring a wide variety of genres together, as their musical backgrounds differ greatly from one another. A typical Gypsy show brings together elements of folk, bluegrass, rock, jazz, and blues. This is evident from their selection of covers which range from traditional bluegrass tunes such as “Workin’ on a Building,” and classic rock tunes such as the Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post,” to jazz tunes such as John Coltrane’s “Mr. PC,” and modern pop tunes such as Gnarles Barkley's "Crazy." Most notable, however, is the band’s songwriting abilities. Not only do all five members compose original songs, but all five members also sing, making for exquisite harmonies and making no one the “lead vocalist.” The Rock River Gypsies have grown from playing charity gigs for campus organizations and local venues, to playing at the Clearwater Festival in Croton-on-Hudson NY, the Mountville Festival in Loudoun County VA, and intimate venues all over the state of Virginia. Members have performed at ethnomusicology conferences, a royal visit from Queen Elizabeth II, and have been asked for their talents for film scores. The Gypsies are currently working on their first album, which is expected to be finished by Summer 2008.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 5/25/2005
Band Website: wm.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2362838839
Band Members: MySpace Icons Icons Collage Photo Collage MySpace Graphics MySpace EditorRyan Babarsky-vocals, guitar, bass Jared Lawson-vocals, mandolin Matt Kauper- bass gitar Chris Smith-vocals, guitar, bass, harmonica Gina Sobel-vocals, flute, guitar
Influences: Beatles, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Joni Mitchell, David Grisman, Del McCoury Band, Mike Marshall, Bob Dylan, Jeff Buckley, Tim O'Brien, John Denver, Beast Infection, Old School Freight Train, Django and Stephen, Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Gillian Welch, Nickel Creek, Tom Waits, Steve Earl, Brother Mustard, Steve, Delectable Treat, the Robin Hood soundtrack
Sounds Like:

Type of Label: None

My Blog

Radio Show and other things

So we played  a gig at the Baker's Dozen Mtn. Bike race this past Saturday evening, much thanks to the guys at Plum Grove Cylcery for having us out. Sunday evening we were invited to be on Willia...
Posted by The Rock River Gypsies on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:09:00 PST

New Tunes

Actually I lied, new recordings! Some medium grit mixes of the stuff we’ve been working on, couldn’t stand to keep the old recordings up any longer.-ChrisAlso here’s the setlist from...
Posted by The Rock River Gypsies on Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:37:00 PST

A note on posted tunes and new recordings

Hey all,We have 5 tracks which are infinitesimally close to being completed, which is good cause the tunes we have up now are almost 3 years old! We may release these new tunes as a 5 song EP or wait ...
Posted by The Rock River Gypsies on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:40:00 PST

32 reasons its snowing

HelloIt has been 3 months since my last confessionIts been a bit slow in Gypsy land of late, Gina's on the road with the Backporch Energy Initiative, and while the rest of us aren't paticularly busy, ...
Posted by The Rock River Gypsies on Sat, 19 Jan 2008 02:52:00 PST

RRG with OSFT!

Greetings,We'll be opening a show for one of our collective all-time favorite bands, Old School Freight Train, on Friday, October 26. Show starts at 8 and will be taking place at the Williamsburg Comm...
Posted by The Rock River Gypsies on Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:21:00 PST

Fall Stuff

Hello Cyberspace,it has been 4 months since my last confession...Anywho we're playing some sweet shows coming up in September, both on the sameday. Sept 22 will find us playing at the Williamsburg Far...
Posted by The Rock River Gypsies on Mon, 17 Sep 2007 02:02:00 PST

Notes on New Songs

Hello Dearest Devoted Darling Reader of Mine, As you may or may not have noticed, we have posted two new recordings in the past week (both LIVE!) The first is a new song of Gina's, called Lo...
Posted by The Rock River Gypsies on Thu, 10 May 2007 08:54:00 PST

Set lists from the past few weeks

Hey All, We've just finished up a long run of gigs which was a blast, albeit a tiring blast. Here are some of the setlists that I didn't lose Homebrewaroo: Mr. P.C., Roll On, .. .
Posted by The Rock River Gypsies on Tue, 01 May 2007 11:45:00 PST

Set list from Harrisonburg 04/06

Hey all, We just got back from a show up in Harrisonburg, VA, playing for the great people at JMU. Special thanks to Marley Green for having us out, the womens frisbee team for putting ...
Posted by The Rock River Gypsies on Sat, 07 Apr 2007 12:02:00 PST

Whats goin on

Heya, Been awhile since I've updated, thought I'd shovel out the scoop. We've been working on recording our disk, albeit slowly, we're making some progress. If the planets align on the night of the sp...
Posted by The Rock River Gypsies on Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:12:00 PST