Ranky Tanky Earn First-Ever Grammy For Gullah Music With Best Regional Roots Album Win | Shore Fire Media

28 January, 2020Print

Ranky Tanky Earn First-Ever Grammy For Gullah Music With Best Regional Roots Album Win

Photo: Robby Klein @RecordingAcad, @robbysphotos, #GRAMMYs #UnexpectEverything

 

Ranky Tanky have achieved many firsts for South Carolina’s West African-rooted Gullah community since their formation, earning yet another milestone at last night's GRAMMY Awards by taking home the Best Regional Roots Album prize for their sophomore release, Good Time. The album, which also hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Chart over the summer, combines songs carried down through generations in the Sea Islands of the Southeastern United States with the band’s own original compositions in the Gullah tradition. In Ranky Tanky's hands, this style of music has been described as "soulful honey to the ears" (NPR) while being covered by the New York Times, NPR’s Fresh Air and The TODAY Show, who had the band on for a performance earlier this year.

Watch Ranky Tanky accept their GRAMMY for Best Regional Roots Album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0tCeoCD1GA&feature=emb_title

Watch Ranky Tanky perform “Freedom” on The TODAY Show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_eu0_ZFgIk&feature=youtu.be

Listen to the GRAMMY-winning record Good Time here: https://ffm.to/_goodtime

 

Ranky Tanky (which is a Gullah phrase for “get funky”) are five lifelong friends from Charleston, South Carolina who have established themselves as passionate global ambassadors for their local culture and community, helping to faithfully preserve the traditions originated by African Americans in the coastal South during slavery that are kept alive through the present day. The band were recently the subjects of a 10-page profile in Oxford American’s South Carolina Music Issue and were named 2019 Artist of The Year by the Charleston City Paper.

Ranky Tanky will tour through 2020, with highlights including their debut appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in April and a much-anticipated hometown show with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra on March 12.

 

RANKY TANKY TOUR DATES

January 28 - La Jolla Music Society - San Diego, CA

January 29 - Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse - Berkeley, CA

January 30 - Kuumbwa Jazz Center - Santa Cruz, CA

January 31 - Sweetwater Music Hall - Mill Valley, CA

February 8 - Clemens Fine Arts Center - Paducah, KY

March 7 - Madison Morgan Cultural Center - Madison, GA

March 12 - Gaillard Center - Charleston, SC (w. The Charleston Symphony Orchestra)

March 20 - Bailey Hall - Davie, FL

March 29 - Lyell B Clay Concert Theatre - Morgantown, WV

April 4 - South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center - Cutler Bay, FL

April 5 - Straz Center - Tampa, FL

April 16 - The Oxford American Archetypes & Troubadours Series - Little Rock, AR

April 17 - Germantown Performing Arts Center - Germantown, TN

April 19 - Campbell Hall - Santa Barbara, CA

April 21 - Pines Theater - Lufkin, TX

April 22 - Bayou Theater - Houston, TX

April 24 - Texas Tech University Allen Theatre - Lubbock, TX

April 25 - Dominican University - River Forest, IL

April 26 - The Ark - Ann Arbor, MI

April 30 - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - New Orleans, LA

May 29 - Savoy Teatteri - Helsinki, Finland

July 17 - Bürgerhaus Unterföhring - Unterföhring, Germany

July 25 - Ossipe Valley Music Festival - Hiram, ME