Always amazed by the music I can find on Twitter. A huge perk of connecting with other artists is getting to hear them. I connected with the River Ratz Band and quickly lead to this blog post being created. The four pieced band is compose of two married couples. The River Ratz Band is from the Charlotte, NC area. I enjoy the old timey sound and vocal harmonies. I never tire of hearing talent like that. Click play on the live video below and see if you agree. Read about the River Ratz Band and the song “I Am What I Am” below.
Story Behind I Am What I Am
River Ratz Band formed by chance three years ago. We met in a class to learn how to jam in a bluegrass circle. We hit it off immediately when none of us wanted to play the songs the leader picked–we gravitated toward upbeat, hard-driving songs. Our music today is better described as modern bluegrass laced with country, folk, and rock’n roll. “Born in bluegrass, bred in rock’ roll” is our motto.
Our band is made up of two married couples with a combined 60 years of marriage. Our favorite venues to play are breweries because people go there to have a good time, and we try to facilitate the fun. We get our audiences involved in playing various percussion instruments on what we call “fungrass” songs.
I Am What I Am came about when we were getting ready to go to a Halloween gig. (Maybe I had morbid thoughts on my mind!). This song was inspired by absolutely no true events (in our lives anyway!). I tried to imagine severe consequences for a cheating man, with a comical spin. Plus I knew we needed a seafaring song–doesn’t every band with a fiddle? I had never heard of a trimaran, but picked that type of yacht to impress my band mates with my knowledge of ships. Scott (our other songwriter) wrote the singalong lines to complete the song.
This song was recorded live at Birdsong Brewery for their Louisiana Crawfish boil.