Merry Christmas, all! Here’s our 2025 Christmas video! Our take on the holiday favorite Santa Claus is Coming to Town has a bluegrass twist. And Toby the dog returns with his holiday hijinks. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season.
Author: Ocean State Ramblers
Merry Christmas, 2024!
It’s here…our 2024 Christmas video! For this year’s OSR production, we’ve bluegrass-ified the classic Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. Our version is Pickin’ Around the Christmas Tree. And, our special guest, Toby, returns with more holiday escapades. Merry Christmas, one and all!
Luther Blount joins the Ocean State Ramblers
Please welcome Luther Blount as the newest Ocean State Rambler! Luther has joined us on mandolin, guitar, and vocals. He brings some great bluegrass standards to the OSR set list and has added depth to our instrumentation and sound.
Luther first picked up a guitar in college, drawn into the music scene by musicians who hung out and jammed regularly in his dorm. He also took up the bass guitar around that time and played in several informal bands. After marrying and starting a family, Luther kept his love of music alive by getting involved with music at his church. He was pulled into the bluegrass world when his wife gave him a mandolin for Christmas a few years back and he signed up for bluegrass jamming classes. Now an avid bluegrass picker, Luther is a regular at local jams and even started his own monthly open jam in Barrington, Rhode Island.
Luther met and started picking with the other Ocean State Ramblers at jams and events hosted by the Rhode Island Bluegrass Alliance. An engineer by day, Luther works hard at documenting and analyzing the band’s set lists and arrangements.
Stop by and say howdy to Luther at one of our upcoming gigs!
Happy holidays, 2023!
It’s here…Christmastime and our 2023 Christmas video! This year’s OSR production includes a pinch of nostalgia and a dash of fun. We hope you enjoy our take on Blue Christmas. Happy holidays, one and all!
Ocean State Ramblers perform at 2022 Bristol 4th of July Celebration concert series
We had a fantastic experience performing at the 2022 Bristol Fourth of July Celebration concert series on Tuesday, June 28th. The crowd was great, the view of the harbor was beautiful, and the weather was perfect.
We opened for Bulletproof, a country rock band. Our set list included a selection of bluegrass standards and some of our original songs.
Thank you so much for having us, Bristol! We were thrilled to be part of your celebration. Here are some photos of our show and the lovely setting in Bristol, Rhode Island. And, watch a few highlights of our show in the video below.
Ocean State Ramblers return to the Wood River Inn
We returned to the Wood River Inn on Sunday, February 24, 2019. This time, we played a full evening’s show; last time we opened for Bluegrass Distillery.
We had a great turnout with many friends and family in attendance, as well as local folks.
Here’s a little taste of our show:
Ocean State Ramblers wrap up busy season of outdoor events
Earlier this month, we wrapped up a busy spring, summer and fall packed with outdoor events. We started the season at the Mount Hope Farm Farmers Market in Bristol, RI in June, then played five monthly gigs at the Attleboro Farmers Market in Attleboro, Mass. from June through October.
We provided the soundtrack for the Appalachian Mountain Club/Narragansett Chapter’s Spring Fling at Goddard Park in Warwick, RI in June, performed on the lawn outside the North Kingstown Free Library in RI in July and appeared twice at the Weaver Library Farmers Market in East Providence, once in July and once in August.
On a single day in August, we entertained passersby at Updike Park in Wickford Village, RI, then appeared on the main stage the Marshfield Fair in Marshfield, Mass.
In between all of those outdoor events, we squeezed in an indoor show at the North Scituate RI Public Library in July.
We’re working on filling out our indoor fall and winter schedule now, and looking forward to more outdoor events in 2019!
Our first outdoor farmers market gig of the 2018 season: Mount Hope Farm
The weather forecast called for rain, but it turned out to be a nice morning for our first outdoor farmers market gig of the season. It was rather sticky in terms of humidity but thankfully no rain as we played some of our bluegrass standards, a few new (to us) songs, and some of our originals.
This is a great little market in Bristol, Rhode Island. We chatted with some nice folks who stopped by to pick up local products and listen to music. Also enjoyed seeing some of the vendors we met when we played the winter market.
Thank you for having us, Mount Hope Farm farmers market!
Ocean State Ramblers bring their “Listen and Learn” program to Newport
We brought our “Listen and Learn at the Library” program to the Newport Public Library on Saturday, May 12, 2018. We played a selection of our favorite bluegrass standards and our own original songs for the folks who came out on this rainy Saturday.
Below is a little taste of the show. More videos are available here.
Cripple Creek
Bury Me Beneath the Willow
My Walking Shoes Don’t Fit Me Anymore
I’ll Fly Away
Angelina Baker
Great turnout for “Listen and Learn with the Ocean State Ramblers” at Weaver Library
All 80 seats were full when we did our “Bluegrass Music: Listen and Learn with the Ocean State Ramblers” show at the Weaver Library in East Providence on February 12, 2018.
Our show included more than a dozen classic bluegrass songs, a fiddle tune and several OSR originals, punctuated with fun facts about bluegrass music and the songs we played.
Folks seemed to have a good time listening and learning. And, we had a blast playing and educating. Here’s a little taste of the program:
Banks of the Ohio
I’ll Fly Away
Ocean State Ramblers 