Press Release

Red Clay Ramblers to Perform Live and on Film at Virginia Film Festival

October 17, 1996: The Red Clay Ramblers, a North Carolina string-band whose unique blend of country, rock, Dixieland, bluegrass and gospel has won them fans from Kalamazoo, MI, to Munich, Germany, will perform live on stage at the Jefferson Theatre in downtown Charlottesville on November 1, 1996. One of the Expanded Festival programs offered by this year's Virginia Film Festival, the concert will be preceded by the Charlottesville premiere of Sam Shepard's 1994 revisionist western Silent Tongue, in which the group co-starred. The screening will begin at 8 p.m. in the Jefferson Theatre and tickets to the film and concert are $15. Admission is free to Works passholders only.

Silent Tongue is the latest collaboration between Sam Shepard and the Ramblers whose previous offerings included Shepard's 1985 drama A Lie of the Mind and his 1988 film Far North. Shepard, who enjoys drumming with the group, calls the Ramblers "a great American Band" echoing praise from critics across America, including this rave from the Louisville Courier-Journal : "The night romped and rocked, swung and soared, from the opening medley of classic traditional instruments to the exhilarating gospel end." In 1993 the group scored the music for the Broadway hit Fool Moon, earning them a Drama Desk nomination. They have also made numerous appearances on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, CBS This Morning, and AM-America with Candice Bergen.

Silent Tongue also features performances by Richard Harris, Alan Bates, and the late River Phoenix in his final cinematic role. A tale of bartered brides, love, loss and revenge Silent Tongue drew the attention of critic Jeffrey Peacock who wrote: "The script is an eloquent and clever examination of the many ways in which humans exploit one another, due to race, class, gender and just plain greed. The direction is sweeping and lyrical, tipping its Stetson more than once in the direction of John Ford and Sam Peckinpah."

For further information regarding the 1996 Virginia Film Festival please call (804) 982-5277. Tickets may be obtained from Festival box offices in Culbreth Theatre or the UVA Bookstore on UVA grounds, or from Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Barracks Road Shopping Center. Phone orders should be directed to 1-800-UVA-FEST.