: ''Disambiguation note: This Australian group should not be confused with the Swedish group Rank Strangers, formed in the 60's, nor groups who later adopted the same name, including a Minneapolis-based indie-rock group, a Rhode Island bluegrass band, and an Oregon acoustic group.'' The Rank Strangers were an Australian bluegrass band that won multiple national and international awards during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Random House’s 1991 book ''Australian Country Music'' declared the Rank Strangers to be among the major figures of the 1990s Australian music scene, along with

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is an Australian-American musician, singer, guitarist and songwriter known for his work in country music. Recognized with four Grammy Awards, Urban also received fifteen Academy of Country Music Awa ...

and country legend

Slim Dusty Slim Dusty, AO MBE (born David Gordon Kirkpatrick; 13 June 1927 – 19 September 2003) was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon and one of the country's most awarded stars ...

. ''Australian Country Music'' observed that "the Rank Strangers have a musical immediacy that typifies the best of bluegrass and recalls such players as

The Stanley Brothers The Stanley Brothers were an American bluegrass duo of singer-songwriters and musicians, made up of brothers Carter Stanley (August 27, 1925 – December 1, 1966) and Ralph Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016). Ralph and Carter perform ...

and

Bill Monroe William Smith "Bill" Monroe (; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre take ...

Members

* Peter Somerville (vocals and banjo) * Philomena Carroll (vocals and bass) *

Andrew Hook Andrew Hook, FBA, FRSE, is Emeritus Bradley Professor of English Literature at the University of Glasgow. Having graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1954, he completed national service and went on to graduate study at Manchester and P ...

(mandolin) * Eddie Rambeaux (stage name for

Gary Forrester Gary Jeshel Forrester (born 3 July 1946) is a musician,Latta, David, ''Australian Country Music'' (Random House Australia, 1991) ."Capital love letter: Renaissance man Gary Forrester turns back to the novel", ''FishHead: Wellington's Magazine'' ...

) (songwriter, singer, and guitarist) *

Gerry Hale Gerald Richard "Gerry" Hale (born 1959, Newmarket, Suffolk) is an English-born, Australian-based multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. He has worked as a session musician for the Soft Boys (1978–80) and was a band member of Bouncing Czecks (fl. 1 ...

(fiddle and mandolin) Other occasional members included Belinda Moody on bass, Ian Tritt on mandolin, Di McNicol on guitar and vocals, and other Australian and American instrumentalists.

Work

The bulk of their record albums consisted of original material, although they also included time-honoured bluegrass standards in their repertoire. Following the band’s break-up in the early 1990s, Somerville and Hale went on to lead bands of their own, while Forrester embarked on a career as a writer. (See, e.g., ''Houseboating in the Ozarks'', Dufour Editions, 2006, which includes a fictionalized account of the Rank Strangers.) In 1988, the Rank Strangers swept the Australian Gospel Music Awards in Tamworth, New South Wales, winning Best Group, Best Male Vocalist, and Best Composition. In 1989 and 1990, ''Dust on the Bible'' (RCA Records, Nicholls & Dimes) and ''Uluru'' (Larrikin Records) both placed in the top five for the overall Australian Country Music Awards. In 1990-91, their third album, ''Kamara'', was released to coincide with tours of Australia and the USA. These tours culminated in performances before the

International Bluegrass Music Association The International Bluegrass Music Association, or IBMA, is a trade association to promote bluegrass music. Formed in 1985, IBMA established its first headquarters in Owensboro, Kentucky. In 1988 they announced plans to create the International ...

(IBMA) in

Owensboro Owensboro is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Daviess County, Kentucky, United States. It is the fourth-largest city in the state by population. Owensboro is located on U.S. Route 60 and Interstate 165 about southwest of Loui ...

, Kentucky, alongside

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Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of 8 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed with ...

Ralph Stanley Ralph Edmund Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016) was an American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing. Stanley began playing music in 1946, originally with his older brother Carter Stanley as part of ...

Doyle Lawson Doyle Lawson (born April 20, 1944) is an American traditional bluegrass and Southern gospel musician. He is best known as a mandolin player, vocalist, producer, and leader of the 6-man group Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Lawson was inducted into ...

Hot Rize Hot Rize is a bluegrass band that rose to prominence in the early 1980s. Established in 1978, Hot Rize has appeared on national radio and TV shows, and has toured most of the United States, as well as Japan, Europe and Australia. History Ho ...

Peter Rowan Peter Rowan (born July 4, 1942) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. Rowan plays guitar and mandolin, yodels and sings. Biography Rowan was born in Wayland, Massachusetts to a musical family. From an early age, he had an interest ...

, and others. The Rank Strangers were also headliners at the

Station Inn The Station Inn is a concert venue in Nashville, Tennessee that hosts bluegrass music acts. Frommers wrote that it is "widely regarded as one of the best bluegrass venues around". The small nightclub has a reputation for being a simple building, ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

, and the IBMA Bluegrass Fan Fest in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...

, supporting guitar legend

Tony Rice David Anthony Rice (June 8, 1951 – December 25, 2020), known professionally as Tony Rice, was an American guitarist and bluegrass musician. He was an influential acoustic guitar player in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and a ...

's bluegrass band. ''

Bluegrass Unlimited ''Bluegrass Unlimited'' is a monthly music magazine "dedicated to the furtherance of bluegrass and old-time musicians, devotees and associates."

'', the bible of bluegrass music, declared that "the Rank Strangers have a unique angle on bluegrass music, and ought to be proud of making their own brand of music come out on top in the Land Down Under." ''BU'' described Uluru as "one of the most intellectually stimulating bluegrass works of recent years, and it cannot be restricted to mere national boundaries." The band was the subject of a feature article in the December 1988 issue of the magazine. In 1990, the Rank Strangers finished second in the world (to a Czech band), in an international competition sponsored by the IBMA.

Selected discography

*''Dust on the Bible''. RCA (Nicholls and Dimes) (1988) (finalist, Australian Country Music Awards) * ''Uluru''. Larrikin Records (Australia) (1989) (finalist, Australian Country Music Awards) * ''Kamara''. Troubadour Records (Australia) (1990)

References

* Latta, David. Australian Country Music.

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Ger ...

(1991) . * Bluegrass Unlimited (December 1988) (feature article on The Rank Strangers) * Bluegrass Unlimited (April 1989) (review of Dust on the Bible) * Bluegrass Unlimited (May 1989) (review of Uluru) * Bluegrass Unlimited (June 1990) (review of Kamara)

External links

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htb8Ueijpyc (live performances) * http://www.bluegrassmusic.com * http://www.ibma.org/ * Banjo player Peter Somerville's website: http://www.myspace.com/petersomerville * Forrester, Gary. ''Houseboating in the Ozarks''. Dufour Editions (2006) (hardcover); (paperback) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rank Strangers, The Australian bluegrass music groups American bluegrass music groups