Jeff Hart and the Ruins

Last updated

Jeff Hart and the Ruins were a four-piece Americana and alt.country-styled power pop band composed of Jeff Hart (musician), Brian Yamamoto, Symen Blumenfeld and John Flowers. After 23 years under that name, they became Jefferson Hart & The Ghosts of the Old North State in January 2013.

Contents

Career

Jeff Hart and the Ruins was formed in January 1990 by Jeff Hart, along with bassist Chip Robinson and drummer John Flowers. As with musical predecessors The Byrds, Tom Petty, and The Kinks (Muswell Hillbillies era) and contemporaries like Paul Westerberg and The Jayhawks, the music of the band strays into both the "alt.country" and power pop styles of rock and roll. Don Bailey later joined the original three to round out the first era of the band.

Jeff Hart: The Singles 1960-1990

Their debut CD was released in November 1990 and entitled Jeff Hart: The Singles 1960-1990 (Bombay Records ABR-001). Though Jeff Hart and the Ruins played live in support of the CD, the recordings were essentially a solo anthology of studio material that Hart wrote and sang from his previous bands. This consisted of selections from the North Carolina alt.country pioneers The Hanks, The Ragdads and some acoustic sessions at Duck Kee Studio with Jerry Kee, Ron Bartholomew, Chip Robinson, Danny Moses and Steve Howell.

Glances From a Nervous Groom

Following the departure of Robinson, Bailey and Flowers in 1991, numerous members (notably Dave Bartholomew of Tres Chicas and Danny Kurtz of Whiskeytown and The Backsliders) and bassist Thomas Wilson filled their roles in the short term. Beginning in 1994, a core lineup of Brian Yamamoto on guitar and vocals, Glenn Jones on bass and vocals and Bryan Sodemann on drums and vocals held steady until 1996.

The next CD, Glances From a Nervous Groom (Bombay Records ABR-002), was released in December 1995 and recorded with this new lineup. It was the first (and to date only) CD credited to Jeff Hart and the Ruins.

Eric Midkiff replaced Glenn Jones in the band in 1996 and played guitar while Hart moved to bass. After Midkiff's departure in 1996, Steve Hisada replaced him on guitar and occasional bass while Hart split bass and guitar duties with Hisada. Jeff Hart and the Ruins disbanded in July 1998.

Reunion

After a five-year hiatus, Midkiff rejoined the band for their reunion in April 2003 with Symen Blumenfeld on bass along with previous members Hart, Yamamoto and Sodemann. Midkiff took time off again in 2008. Original drummer John Flowers rejoined briefly in 2010 and upon his departure, he was replaced by Jim McPhail. McPhail departed in July 2012 and Flowers re-joined. [1] The Ruins also appear on 7 of the 14 songs (Goodbye Anne Shore Goodbye, All Along the Wallflower, View Ye Living, Love in Return, Better Days, Margarite and Walking Between Raindrops)on Hart's December 2011 CD release "Ghosts of the Old North State". [2] The Hart, Yamamoto, Blumenfeld and Flowers was intact until Flowers departed in early 2016 (replaced by Randy Benefield) and the death of Blumenfeld in April 2019 (replaced by Hart's daughter Ella that summer). [3]

"You and Your Kind", a song Hart wrote while with The Hanks, but played for the better part of a decade with The Ruins, was featured in the "Betty and Veronica" episode in the first season of the WB Network show Veronica Mars . The recording used was from a 2003 live CD by The Brown Mountain Lights, Late Show at the Cave (ABR-003).

Jeff Hart's songs "Love In Return" and "So Old" have also been covered live by Chris Stamey and Chip Robinson in the Vibekillers respectively.

Jefferson Hart & The Ghosts of the Old North State

The band renamed itself after 23 years as Jeff Hart and the Ruins to Jefferson Hart and The Ghosts of the Old North State (after the album of the same name) in February 2013. Jeff has also been playing solo under the name Jefferson Hart since early in 2013. [4] Drummer Randy Benefield replaced John Flowers who left in early 2016. Symen Blumenfeld, bassist since 2003, died in April 2019. Hart's daughter Ella replaced him in the summer of 2019. [5]

In 2014, Jefferson Hart and The Ghosts of the Old North State released, Corolla Ponies In The Snow, which was the culmination of a 12-week song writing project in which Jeff wrote a song a week for 12 weeks and posted them to SoundCloud. The title track was inspired by a YouTube video of ponies running on the North Carolina Outer Banks during a snow storm. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Starship</span> American rock band

Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albums, and one gold-selling compilation. The album Red Octopus went double-platinum, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1975. The band went through several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the Jefferson Starship name. The band name was retired in 1984, but it was picked up again in 1992 by a revival of the group led by Paul Kantner, which has continued since his death in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bad Company</span> British rock band

Bad Company were an English rock supergroup that was formed in London in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, drummer Simon Kirke, guitarist Mick Ralphs and bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, also managed Bad Company until 1982.

Sky were an English/Australian instrumental rock group that specialised in combining a variety of musical styles, most prominently rock, classical and jazz. The group's original and best-known line-up featured two Australians - classical guitarist John Williams and electric guitarist Kevin Peek - alongside three Britons - bass player Herbie Flowers, drummer/percussionist Tristan Fry and keyboard player Francis Monkman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toto (band)</span> American rock band

Toto is an American pop rock band formed in 1977 in Los Angeles, California. Toto combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz. Having released 14 studio albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide, the group has received several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">My Dying Bride</span> British heavy metal band

My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in Bradford. Since their inception in 1990, they have released 13 studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The dB's</span> American rock band

The dB's are an American alternative rock and power pop group, who formed in New York City in 1978 and first came to prominence in the early 1980s. Their debut album Stands for Decibels is acclaimed as one of the great "lost" power pop albums of the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Casady</span> American bass guitarist

John William Casady is an American bass guitarist, best known as a member of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Jefferson Airplane became the first successful exponent of the San Francisco Sound. Singles including "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" charted in 1967 and 1968. Casady, along with the other members of Jefferson Airplane, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitch Easter</span> Musical artist

Mitchell Blake Easter is a musician, songwriter, and record producer. Frequently associated with the jangle pop style of guitar music, he is known as producer of R.E.M.'s early albums from 1981 through 1984, and as frontman of the 1980s band Let's Active.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Starflyer 59</span> American rock band

Starflyer 59 is an American alternative rock band from Riverside, California that was founded in 1993 by Jason Martin, brother of Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric. While Jason Martin has written nearly all of Starflyer 59's songs, the band has included a number of different musicians over the years, including Jeff Cloud, Frank Lenz, and Richard Swift. The band's sound was initially identified as an outgrowth of the shoegaze movement of the early 1990s, but the band's music has gradually evolved to the point of little resemblance to that of its early days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hiro Yamamoto</span> American musician

Hiro D. Yamamoto is a Japanese-American bassist who was a founding member of grunge band Soundgarden, along with Kim Thayil and Chris Cornell in 1984. He left the band in 1989, and two years later, he started the independent rock band Truly together with Screaming Trees drummer Mark Pickerel and Robert Roth from The Storybook Krooks. In 2016, Yamamoto co-founded the surf trio Stereo Donkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Murray (British musician)</span> Scottish bassist

Philip Neil Murray is a Scottish musician, best known as the former bassist of Whitesnake, the Brian May Band, Black Sabbath, and Gary Moore.

Don Dixon is an American record producer, songwriter, and musician. He is considered to be one of the key producers of what is called the jangle pop movement of the early 1980s, including working with R.E.M. and The Smithereens.

Adam Hamilton is a Los Angeles-based music producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Hamilton was the bassist of glam metal band L.A. Guns from 2001 through 2007, again from June to September 2018 as their rhythm guitarist, and again as their studio drummer since 2020. He also played drums for 1990s alternative rock band Joe 90, and worked as session drummer for alternative/neo-psychedelic band The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

Ghost was an experimental rock group formed in Tokyo, Japan, in 1984.

<i>Until the Ink Runs Out</i> 2000 studio album by Eighteen Visions

Until The Ink Runs Out is the second full-length album released by metalcore band Eighteen Visions. It is often considered to be the bands' finest release by much of the older fans, as well as the record that gathered national attention for the band, due to the rising of Trustkill Records.

<i>Amputechture</i> 2006 studio album by The Mars Volta

Amputechture is the third studio album by American progressive rock band the Mars Volta, released on September 12, 2006, on Gold Standard Laboratories and Universal Records. Produced by guitarist and songwriter Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, the album marks the final appearance of drummer Jon Theodore, and is the first studio album to feature guitarist and sound manipulator Paul Hinojos, formerly of At the Drive-In and Sparta.

Diabolic is an American death metal band from Tampa Bay, Florida, United States, founded in 1996 by bassist/vocalist Paul Ouellette, drummer Aantar Lee Coates and guitarist Brian Malone.

The Aeroplanes are an English rock band from Liverpool. The Aeroplanes formed in 2003 when Chris Kearney (guitar/vocal), Paul Crowe (guitar/vocal) and Stuart Palethorpe (bass) decided to bring their previous outfit ‘Loveland 1881’ to a close to take their sound in a different direction. They were joined by old school friend Ian McMillan (drums) and the line up was complete. In 2007, bassist Stuart left the band and was replaced by Vicky Edwards. The band released their much anticipated debut album ‘Broken Hearts and Maladies’ in November 2008 to positive reviews.

Verka is a music group from Delčevo, Republic of Macedonia. They play metal combined with elements of traditional Macedonian music, including folk instruments such as folk drum, kettle drum, bagpipes, clarinet and bendir. The members of the band are Vlatko Nushev (Dalton) on drums, Mars Marsovski on guitar, Mazdrak on bass guitar and vocals, and Hiko on folk and kettle drums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Holland (musician)</span> American songwriter and musician (born 1969)

Michael Abbott Holland, is an American songwriter, musician, and producer that got his start with the alternative rock band Jennanykind in the 1990s and early 2000s. His music and other recordings, with Jennyanykind, The Holland Bros. and solo, have appeared in films such as Desert Saints, The World Made Straight, and the Jody Hill film The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter, and series such as Apple TV+'s Dickinson, F/X's Baskets, and HBO's The Righteous Gemstones. Holland also appeared with his twin brother Mark in The Righteous Gemstones Season 1 Episode 3 as musicians at a church picnic playing their production of the old hymnal The Old Country Church. Holland's music has been covered by artists such as Dean Wareham and Dean & Britta.

References

  1. "Festival for the Eno - She Won't Ever be Happy - Jeff Hart & the Ruins - YouTube". YouTube . Archived from the original on 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  2. "Ghosts of the Old North State". Ghostsoftheoldnorthstate.wordpress.com. 2011-12-10. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  3. https://www.facebook.com/pg/GhostsoftheOldNorthState/about/ [ user-generated source ]
  4. https://www.facebook.com/GhostsoftheOldNorthState?fref=ts [ user-generated source ]
  5. https://www.facebook.com/pg/GhostsoftheOldNorthState/about/ [ user-generated source ]
  6. from an interview on episode 198 of the Americana Music Show, published June 30th, 2014.

Sources