Run C&W

Biography

Run C&W was an American novelty bluegrass group that was active in the early 1990s, playing mostly cover renditions of classic soul and R&B songs in a bluegrass or roots country style, including banjo, harmonica, washboard, and multi-part vocal harmonies. They also played a handful of original parody songs. The band's name is a mix of the abbreviation for the "country & western" music genre (C&W), and Run DMC, a popular hip-hop group of the time. The band was composed of veteran musicians inclu...

Run C&W was an American novelty bluegrass group that was active in the early 1990s, playing mostly cover renditions of classic soul and R&B songs in a bluegrass or roots country style, including banjo, harmonica, washboard, and multi-part vocal harmonies. They also played a handful of original parody songs. The band's name is a mix of the abbreviation for the "country & western" music genre (C&W), and Run DMC, a popular hip-hop group of the time.

The band was composed of veteran musicians including lead vocalist Russell Smith, formerly of the Amazing Rhythm Aces; banjoist Bernie Leadon, formerly of the Eagles and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; along with Nashville songwriters Jim Photoglo and Vince Melamed, both of whom played various instruments. In performance and in the album artwork and liner notes, the members portrayed fictitious non-identical quadruplets The Burns Brothers, each with pun names: Crash'n Burns, G.W. "Wash" Burns, Side Burns, and Rug Burns. Their father was known as "Dad Burns" and their mother as Augusta "Au" Burns.

Run C&W recorded two albums, both on MCA Records: 1993's Into the Twangy-First Century, followed by 1994's Row vs. Wade, and filmed at least one music video.

In the tradition of Bands such as The Traveling Wilburys, Run C&W was a Band which had consisted of four key Musicians who pretended to be a Bluegrass Band who had no knowledge of modern day life and therefore would perform 1960's Soul Hits as if they were traditionally accurate Tunes in the Bluegrass or Country & Western Genres. One prime example is when you hear a herd of Cows in Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" with the Soul Brothers being replaced by Country & Western Singers instead for the Song: "Sweet Soul Music." Run C&W were as followed:

EX-Amazing Rhythm Aces Leader Russell Smith (Rug Burns), ex-Eagles and Flying Burrito Brothers guitarist Bernie Leadon (Crashen Burns), Vince Melamed (Wash Burns) and Jim Photoglo (Side Burns), collectively known as the Burns Brothers. The Background Vocals and Lyrics were hilarious too.

Their follow-up Album, dispensing with the dialogue from the previous set, added guest appearances from George Jones (Possum Burns) and Vince Gill (Sun Burns) on Joe Tex’s ‘Hold What You Got’. It was unquestionably obvious that the Band would split, with Russell Smith going on to reunite with the Amazing Rhythm Aces. Their two albums of Rhythm and Bluegrass still deserve to say in catalog to this very day. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.