The Hungry Hash House Ramblers
Doug Rorrer grew up in Eden, North Carolina listening to his great-uncles Charlie Poole and Posey Rorer on old 78s on his father’s old Victrola. He cut his musical teeth on Poole’s music. His guitar “heroes” were Roy Harvey of Poole’s band, Riley Puckett of the Skillet Lickers, and a local guitarist, Gene Meade, who played in the Puckett style. Doug cites Doc Watson as one of his present day inspirations. Over the years, Doug has been fortunate enough to learn from and play with the likes of Norman Woodlieff, Lonnie Austin, and Buck and Alice Easley. Austin and Woodlieff played fiddle and guitar respectively with Poole’s North Carolina Ramblers.
Doug’s son, Taylor is keeping the family’s musical tradition alive. He is a 4th generation musician. Taylor has become an accomplished guitarist in his own right. He draws his influences from Poole’s music and also contemporary musicians such as Norman Blake, Tony Rice, and Doc Watson, among others. Taylor has become a multi-instrumentalist, playing not only guitar, but fiddle, banjo, and mandolin.
Doug has taught guitar workshops and performed at the Augusta Heritage
Festival in Elkins, WV; the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival in Ferrum, VA;
MerleFest in Wilkesboro, NC; the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port
Townsend, WA; the Alaska Folk Festival in Juneau, AK; the Minnesota
Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Festival; and the University of Chicago Folk
Festival, among others. Doug and Taylor performed on a tour of England and Scotland in July of 2001 and also June of 2003. They also performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. June 25-29 of 2003. They returned to Glasgow, Scotland in January of 2004 to perform at the Celtic Connections Festival at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow.
Along with his late wife, Kathy, he started and operates Flyin’ Cloud Records and recording studio, which specializes in old-time, bluegrass, and other traditional acoustic music.
Doug has released the CD: Under the Influence, which pays tribute to some of his influences such as Riley Puckett, Roy Harvey, and Gene Meade. Doug and Taylor have also released the CD entitled: Tradition: A Tribute to Doc & Merle Watson. A track from this CD was featured on Flatpicking ‘99 which was released by Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. Doug and Taylor were also featured on DocFest, which is a CD also released by Flatpicking Guitar Magazine in 2002 as a tribute to Doc Watson. Doug and Taylor were also featured on Flatpicking 2003, another release by Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. Most recently, Doug and Taylor, along with Edwin Lacy, have released a new CD with their newly formed group, The Hungry Hash House Ramblers, entitled, The Butter Had Red Hair. The band has just completed a tour of Scotland and England in support of the new CD. The Hungry Hash House Ramblers were also featured at the 2004 Celtic Connections Festival at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, Scotland, where they performed with Archie Fisher and Martin Stephenson.
Joining the band at this performance will be Scott Manring. Scott is well known in traditional music circles. He is a multi-instrumentalist, including guitar, dobro, and clawhammer and finger style banjo. Scott operates String Studios in Greensboro.
