Downtown Street Jams | Crying Uncle Trio

Date and Time for this Past Event

• Thursday, Aug 31, 2023  4:15pm - 5:15pm

Location

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Details

CRYING UNCLE BLUEGRASS (CUBG), widely recognized as one of the most exciting young bands in acoustic music, plays a unique mix of Bluegrass, Dawg, Jazz and modern originals. Brothers Miles and Teo Quale are joined by bassist Andrew Osborn and guitarist Ian Ly, outstanding young musicians of the vibrant California bluegrass scene. Nominated for the 2021 International Bluegrass Music Association’s Band Momentum Award and winners of the 2018 Pickin’ in the Pines Band Contest in Flagstaff AZ, CUBG is making waves in the world of bluegrass and acoustic music.

Based in Northern California, Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band has opened for prestigious bands, including Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives and David Grisman Bluegrass Experience. The band has played at venues such as IBMA’s World of Bluegrass Festival, CBA’s Father's Day Bluegrass Festival, Strawberry Music Festival, SF’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and Arizona’s Pickin’ in the Pines. Internationally, the band toured in Japan in 2023, performed at Bluegrass in La Roche, France in 2022, and in 2019, they toured throughout Finland, culminating at Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. In 2018, the band was featured on a TEDTalk with Nashville-based singer/songwriter Phoebe Hunt.

The band released their eponymous album, Crying Uncle, in 2018. And in 2020, they released their sophomore album, Monroe Bridge. Monroe Bridge, which features guest artists, fiddler Chad Manning and mandolinist Sharon Gilchrist, was produced by David Grisman Bluegrass Experience banjoist Keith Little and mastered at Berkeley’s Opus Studios. In 2021, the bluegrass band came out with an EP of mostly self-written tunes, Till I Dance Again with You, inspired by a year of “isolating” during the pandemic. Most recently, they released their newest album, The Thing of Dreams, which highlights their originals.

Based in Northern California.

BAND MEMBERS:
Andrew Armstrong Osborn is an award-winning, bluegrass upright bass player, trombonist, and vocalist from San Rafael, California. At the age of 4, Andrew began his musical education on the fiddle. As a small child, Andrew’s father Joe took him to many Bluegrass music festivals, where he would fall asleep in his tent listening to all-night jam sessions. At the age of 9, Andrew became fascinated by the trombone, which he saw when his father was appearing in a production of The Music Man. At age 11, he added the string bass to his list, after falling in love with the instrument at a local Bluegrass festival.

As part of the young band Rambling Minors, Andrew recorded a CD produced by Keith Little (Dolly Parton Band, The Little Band), and appeared on National Public Radio’s California Report, as well as the California Bluegrass Association’s Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival. As part of the subsequent band Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band, Andrew opened for The Del McCoury Band at Berkeley’s famous Freight and Salvage Theater, as well as David Grisman’s Bluegrass Experience. In 2019, Andrew (on trombone and vocals) and members of CUBG performed at the California State Fiddle and Picking Championships for the Anything Goes Band Competition, where the group won first prize.

Andrew was also selected to appear in the International Bluegrass Association’s Kids on Bluegrass program (Raleigh, NC) in both 2016 and 2017, and played many showcases there in 2018. He also plays bass in the Adult bluegrass band Festival Speed, which along with CUBG, was selected to appear at the Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival in 2018. Andrew is a senior at the Marin School of the Arts High School (MSA). In additional to bass, he plays trombone in MSA’s Jazz Band and Wind Ensembles, as well as the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra and College of Marin Wind Ensembles. Andrew is sponsored by Fishman.

Miles Quale is a fiddler from Alameda, CA who plays and sings with depth beyond his years. Miles is accomplished in both bluegrass fiddle and jazz violin, playing with his own bands and as a guest on stages and at music festivals throughout the country and internationally. He is the fiddler for and a founder of bands Crying Uncle Duo, Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band, and Jubilee. Recording his first album at the age of twelve, Miles and his bands have since released several full length albums and EPs. He has been fortunate to play with many of his musical heroes, including Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Brittany Haas, and Country Music legend Marty Stuart. In 2019, Miles had the honor of playing at Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry. In 2021, he toured with band leader and guitarist, Dr. Pascal Bokar and his AfroBlueGrazz Band.

An accomplished contest fiddler, he won the 2019 Youth Grand Master Fiddlers Championship (Nashville, TN) and the 2019 National Fiddle Contest Jr. Swing Division Championship (Weiser, ID). In 2021, Miles was nominated for the IBMA Instrumentalist Award; and, in 2019, he was a finalist at Freshgrass Festival’s Fiddle Contest. In 2022, Miles was awarded a Whippoorwill Arts Fellowship . The Fellowship has allowed him to take a gap year from UCLA, to travel around the world, learning from and recording with musicians.

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

Miles has taught fiddle at Manning Music School, Berkeley CA, since the age of 12, and he currently teaches jazz violin at Oaktown Jazz, Oakland. He has also worked as a teaching assistant for Freight and Salvage’s Freight Kids Music Camp and for California Bluegrass Association’s Kids on Bluegrass program. He plays a mean round of chess, is a blue belt in judo, and enjoys cooking for family and friends. Miles is a Fishman sponsored artist.

Teo Quale is a multi-instrumentalist from Alameda, CA who has been delighting audiences with his inventive and heavily grooved mandolin playing. Teo is fearless on the mandolin, playing with both a rhythmic and melodic creativity that never abandons the groove. He is the mandolinist for Crying Uncle Duo, Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band, and Jubilee; he is also the guitarist for the band, Who’s Feeling Young Now. In 2021, Teo was nominated for the IBMA Instrumentalist Award.

Teo is also an accomplished contest fiddler and picker, having won several picking contests in California and nationally, in fiddle. On mandolin, Teo holds 1st Place in the 2018 Open Division CA State Picking Contest. And, in 2019, he was a finalist at Freshgrass Festival’s Mandolin Contest. No slouch on the fiddle, Teo is a 2-time National Fiddle Champion in the Jr. Jr. division in Weiser, Idaho (2019, 2018) and placed in the Top 3 in the 2019 Youth Grand Master Fiddlers Championship in Nashville, TN. He is also the 2019 CA State Fiddle Contest Champion of the Jr. Jr. Division.

He has played with a number of bands, including: Special Consensus as a substitute guitarist; as a substitute mandolinist for Missy Raines & Allegheny; as a substitute mandolinist for Brothers Comatose; as the mandolinist for Sam Reider’s Human Hands; and as a substitute mandolinist for Sister Sadie. He recently recorded on Jennifer Berezan’s 2022 album, Belonging, which garnered a positive review from Rolling Stone France. He looks forward to more collaborations and opportunities.

At the age of 3, Teo began his fiddle studies with Catherine Manning of Manning Music in Berkeley, CA and and now studies music with Tristan Clarridge of Crooked Still. He also began mandolin studies at the age of 8 with multi-instrumentalist Sharon Gilchrist and has studied with mandolinist Mike Marshall. Teo is an avid yo-yoer and also aspires to be multi-lingual. Teo also has students of all ages, learning ukulele, guitar, and mandolin.

Ian Ly is a flatpick guitarist who makes his home in San Francisco. Drawing upon the influence of guitar greats like Clarence White, Tony Rice, Doc Watson, and Norman Blake, Ian’s picking demonstrates both a reverence for the rich history of American acoustic guitar and a sense of violent, reckless abandon.

Ian grew up in Santa Cruz, California and started playing guitar at the age of 15, quickly becoming an adept flatpicker under the tutelage of Santa Cruz bluegrass legend Steve Palazzo, who gave him a deep knowledge of bluegrass and flatpick lore and sensibility, and Jake Workman of Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, who helped hone his technique and vocabulary. While attending college in his birth state of Kansas, Ian began competing in the Walnut Valley National Flatpick Contests, taking third place in 2022.

Ian is an accomplished doodler and enjoys sleeping on the couch.