Jasper Coal

Jasper Coal at Avondale Brewing Company March 10 2013.

Jasper Coal is a folk-rock band from Birmingham consisting of Jeremy Burns (bass, banjo, bouzouki, vocals), Ian Hoppe (guitar, vocals), Ryan Morrison (bagpipe, whistle, vocals), Kevin Nicholson (fiddle, vocals), Matthew Parrish (vocals, whistle), and Nathan Tucker (bodhran, vocals). The band performs paddypunk renditions of Irish and Scottish traditional music. They describe themselves as "Alabama's most popular Irish pub band and most infamous ne'er-do-wells".

History

Jasper Coal was founded by Matthew Parrish and Nathan Tucker in March 2004. Having both been raised in Irish-American households, Parrish and Tucker began performing to make drinking money for St Patrick's Day. Originally The Immigrants, the band played around Birmingham during the St Patrick's Day season.

In 2006 the band formally changed their name to Jasper Coal, an homage to the Irish coal miners of north Alabama in the mid to late 19th century. That same year, the band also released their first full-length studio album Immigrant Child on indie label Punchdrunk Records and gained bassist Jeremy Burns, who played for many years in the local folk-rock band Shillelagh Law. A year later the band added Ian Hoppe, formerly of local metal act Entropy, on guitar. As a four piece, the band's second full-length studio album 1000 Feet Closer to Hell was recorded, mixed and mastered by Everything Burns Productions LLC in Birmingham, Alabama.

Soon after, Kevin Nicholson, a widely-known traditional fiddle player formerly of Redhill, came on board, followed closely by Birmingham bagpiper Ryan Morrison, Pipe Major of the Ian Sturrock Memorial Pipe Band.

The band plays regular shows in and around central Alabama, often accompanied by the Ian Sturrock Memorial Pipe Band and the Alabama Academy of Irish Dance.

Jasper Coal has just completed their third studio album Drowning the Shamrock due out in Spring of 2013. It was recorded and mixed by Everything Burns Productions LLC in Birmingham, Alabama and will be released on indie label Punchdrunk Records.

Discography

• Jasper Coal. Immigrant Child
• Jasper Coal. 1000 Feet Closer to Hell

External links

• Jasper Coal website
• Jasper Coal Page on Facebook

References

• Feltman, David (March 29, 2010) "Jasper Coal, 1000 Feet Closer to Hell." Skopemag.com.
• Stevenson, Tommy (January 29, 2013) "When Irish roots are showing." Weld for Birmingham.
• Gunn, Marc (March 15, 2013) "#139 – Best St. Patrick’s Day Playlist of 2013." Marc Gunn's Irish & Celtic Music Podcast.