Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band heads to Korea

The four members of U.S. bluegrass band Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band / Courtesy of Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band

By Jon Dunbar

• Published Mar 24, 2024 3:09 PM KST
• Updated Mar 25, 2024 12:11 PM KST

Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band is coming to Korea for the first time this weekend, for three shows in Seoul and Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, supported by local Korean bluegrass act Country Gongbang.

"We've always wanted to travel and tour Korea, but it just never worked out due to scheduling and a lack of connections," Miles Quale, the band's fiddler, told The Korea Times. "However, in 2022 we played at the La Roche Bluegrass Festival in France and were lucky enough to meet Country Gongbang. We quickly became friends and when we were planning our upcoming tour in Japan, we realized that we had a few days that were open."

Korea is a remote outpost the global bluegrass scene — which, yes, is quite widespread worldwide. Although bluegrass may conjure up specific images of moonshine-swilling Appalachian hillbillies, it is enjoying increasing diversity.

The four young members of Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band certainly stand out in this field. They range in age from 17 to 22 — and they've already been playing together for about eight years. It was first founded as a duo in 2016 by Miles — now 20 — and his younger brother, multi-instrumentalist Teo — now 17 — and officially named Crying Uncle.

In 2017 they expanded it to a four-piece band, officially called Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band. The band lineup now includes upright bass player, trombonist and vocalist Andrew Osborn — now 21 — and flatpick guitarist Ian Ly — the oldest at 22 now. Previously John Gooding played guitar, before moving to Tennessee where he plays with the band Little Roy and Lizzie.

Miles and Teo also have a younger brother, Niko, 15, who has his own band named Who’s Feeling Young Now, with Teo playing guitar.

Although half the members of Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band are still too young to drink in many of the venues they play, that's not the only way they don't conform to the old-fashioned image of a bluegrass band. Three of the four members are Asian American. Miles and Teo are part Filipino and Japanese, and Ian is part Vietnamese. "Andrew's the honorary Asian," Miles added, "or as he puts it, the 'diversity hire.'"

Miles added that while their heritage helps them stand out, sometimes "it can be more detrimental than helpful."

He explained, "A lot of the time it can be the thing that people focus on, rather than our music. With that being said, there is a solid community of Asians and Asian Americans who play this music and it feels good to be part of that group. The community is still primarily white, but it diversifies with each coming year and while its more prominent in states like California which are already diverse, the change is starting to spread around the other states as well. I hope that our band ends up encouraging more young Asian Americans to pick up bluegrass and continue to grow this demographic in the genre!"

He admitted that the band members have occasionally experienced ignorant attitudes in the bluegrass community, but he was also quick to brush that off.

"There is something to be said about the racism that we've occasionally experienced, but that same thing can be applied to almost every ethnic group that participates in primarily Caucasian music," Miles said. "I'd say that the majority of the community has been welcoming towards us for sure. While we do get uninformed remarks from time to time, we've grown up in the community and we love it."

He isn't kidding around when he says he grew up in the community.

An expert at bluegrass fiddle and jazz violin, Miles began playing violin at age 3 and switched to bluegrass fiddle when he was 6. He has studied with Catherine Manning of Manning Music in Berkeley, Calif., Tristan Clarridge of Crooked Still, Chad Manning of The David Grisman Quintet, Grammy Award-winning jazz violinist Mads Tolling and Darol Anger.

His younger brother Teo also began fiddle studies at age 3 with Catherine Manning, and now studies music with Tristan Clarridge. He began mandolin studies at age 8 with multi-instrumentalist Sharon Gilchrist and has studied with mandolinist Mike Marshall.

"My parents started me and my siblings out on classical violin," Miles said, "but I think that they had a good balance of pushing us to find our passions while also allowing us to stop if it really wasn't something that we were enjoying."

The two musicians and their slightly older bandmates hope that they stand out not for their youth or ethnicity, but for their pure skill. All are highly accomplished, award-winning instrumentalists, each with a list of credentials too exhaustive to list here.

"While many people do find our music more impressive as we're somewhat younger than most people in this genre, venues and promoters can sometimes treat us somewhat unprofessionally due to our age, which does get a little tiresome, but our reception has definitely improved as we've amassed more and more accolades," Miles said.

"Bluegrass... is a community that is very welcoming, friendly and loves to have a good time. To this day, I haven't found a more open musical community in terms of being welcoming to players of all skill levels. There is a jam for everyone regardless of how long you've played, and it also boasts a plethora of musical fusions such as Dawg music, Jazz-grass, and many others. It's a music I encourage everyone to look into."

Last year, Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band toured Japan for the first time, playing shows in front of the country's bluegrass community.

"Touring Japan might have been my favorite tour so far. Everyone was extremely welcoming and helped out a great deal with the logistics of our travels. The bluegrass scene there is really interesting as it's very traditional and everyone is very respectful during shows — they would wait to clap until the very end of a song almost like a classical concert," Miles said. "There was an assortment of amazing musicians that we got to jam and play with, and what surprised me most was the prevalence of a strong bluegrass scene in universities around the nation. I think what made us want to come back was the people we met first and foremost, but also the history behind the country and some of the venues we played, as well as the amazing food."

This will be their first time in Korea, and the band members don't have a clear idea what to expect.

"None of us have ever been, but from what I've been told it's a very beautiful and respectful country with a very rich history. I don't have any idea as to what the bluegrass scene is like, or how we will be received, but based on stories from Country Gongbang, I have a feeling that it'll be really fun," he said.

"I think that the impression most Americans have of Korea is very narrow and uninformed as the majority of the media surrounding Korea is centered on its modern music and drama scene and stuff — this is somewhat similar to Japan and anime. However, I know that there is so much more to the culture and I think we're all extremely excited to experience it. I can't wait to see what the Korean bluegrass community is like!"

The first show is this Thursday at Michiko Seoul jazz lounge in southern Seoul's Gangnam District. The second show on Friday is at Delight Art Center in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, and costs 30,000 won. The final show at Space Turtle in Seoul on Saturday costs 25,000 won in advance, or 30,000 won at the door. The last two shows also feature Country Gongbang.

The two bands will also be reunited this June, when they play at ROMP Festival in Kentucky.

Visit cryingunclebg.com for more information, or go to cryinguncle.bandcamp.com to sample or purchase their music.