In 2007 Tim Kerr was asked to start a session at the then new Rio Ritas . At that time , Tim had put down the electric guitar and was now playing Irish tunes on a button accordion. Since more people played old time in Austin , It was only a matter of months that the session became an all old time session. Tim had been playing an open D guitar in a loose Irish style to accompany the old time tunes but moved on to playing banjo so as not to “confuse” the other guitar players.
Jerry Hagins was a regular at these sessions and was well known in the folk scene here in Austin for his clawhammer banjo playing. The project began in 2012 when Kerr asked Hagins to record some banjo tunes for him to study the clawhammer technique. Kerr laid guitar over the tracks for Jerry so he could have a recording of how Tim used to accompany him. When Morgan Coy heard the recording the next day , he surprised Tim by offering to release them as an LP on his local Monofonus Press label. Their first show was a miniset at the Austin Stringband fest October 2012 as Way Up Yonder Around the Sun.
Since that time , Up Around the Sun has put 3 recordings out and 2 more are coming out this summer /early fall ( 2024). The band prefers playing in nontraditional spaces such as house shows and art galleries, etc… and they have toured Japan playing with their friend Bosco on fiddle. One of the new recordings coming out is the recordings they did with Bosco while in Japan.
You might know Tim from his early days as the guitarist of the influential Austin, TX punk band, Big Boys, and many others (Poison 13, Bad Mutha Goose, Lord High Fixers and Monkeywrench to name a few)
Take Old-Time fiddle tunes played clawhammer banjo style and add an opened-tuned acoustic guitar played in a loose Irish style accompaniment and you get the idea of what this combination sounds like.That contrast, Hagins’ faithful foundation of American mountain music and Kerr’s chord changes with an open tuning, results in a wonderfully meditative combo .One radio DJ called them Windhamhillbilly .
Take Old-Time fiddle tunes played clawhammer banjo style and add an opened-tuned acoustic guitar played in a loose Irish style accompaniment and you get the idea of what this combination sounds like.That contrast, Hagins’ faithful foundation of American mountain music and Kerr’s chord changes with an open tuning, results in a wonderfully meditative combo .One radio DJ called them Windhamhillbilly .
