Ralph Carney

Ralph Carney (born January 23, 1956, Akron, Ohio) is an American musician. While his primary instruments are various saxophones and clarinets, Carney collects and plays many instruments, often unusual or obscure ones.

He was a founding member of Tin Huey, and is perhaps best known for his long association with singer Tom Waits. He has also recorded or performed with Dieselhed, Marc Ribot, The B-52's, Elvis Costello, Les Claypool, Stan Ridgway and Bill Laswell. Carney has released several solo albums and was a member of the Oranj Symphonette with fellow Waits alumni Joe Gore and Matt Brubeck. He also heads up San Francisco's Carneyball Johnson, playing on saxophones, turkish clarinet, piccolo, trumpet, percussion and vocals. The band also features Channel 23 alumnus Kimo Ball on guitar and vocals; Scott Johnson on drums and vocals; and Allen Whitman on bass and vocals.

He is the uncle of The Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney and recently joined them on stage during a performance at the Warfield in San Francisco and collaborated with them on their album Attack & Release.

He is currently touring with They Might be Giants until Thanksgiving, making use of many different instruments in each live performance. They Might be Giants has always been known for using obscure instruments, but this is the first time they have been able to use many of them in their live shows.

A documentary film has been in the works for the past few years about him called This Is! Ralph Carney, which is named after his last album.

Discography

• Ralph Sounds (1997) (Birdman Records)
• I Like You (A Lot) (1999) (Birdman Records)
• This Is! Ralph Carney (2003) (Black Beauty Records)

Bands That Involved Ralph Carney

• Tin Huey
• The Waitresses
• Swollen Monkeys
• Oranj Symphonette
• Carneyball Johnson
• The Black Keys
• They Might be Giants

External links

• Art of the States: Ralph Carney
• Ralph Carney Website
• Official Carneyball Johnson Website
• Ralph Carney's Official Myspace Music Page
• This Is Ralph Carney Documentary Preview
• Ralph Carney at the Internet Movie Database