The Tan & Sober Gentlemen

The Tan & Sober Gentlemen - Born and raised in North Carolina, the Tan and Sober Gentlemen began taking in the songs, stories, and tunes that make up their beloved state’s musical tradition before they could talk.

The music of the Carolinas, (and Appalachia in general) stems from the marriage of the Irish fiddle and the African banjo, which first met in the American South before the Revolution. The Tan and Sober Gentlemen aim to bring these traditions full circle. They play Irish tunes, ballads, and pub songs right next to the Appalachian fiddle tunes of their youth, melding the two into what they call “Irish-American hillbilly music.”