Blood Oranges

Blood Oranges

Blood Oranges is a US alt-country group from Boston, centred on singer-songwriter Jim Ryan and later listed with Cheri Knight, Keith Levreault, Jimmy Ryan, Mark Spencer and Ron Ward. The band forms in the late 1980s and builds its sound around a strong bluegrass background, combining traditional American roots music with rock and roll and a more experimental Americana approach.

Formation and style

Jim Ryan is born in New York in 1957 and grows up in Binghamton, where he is introduced to bluegrass and folk through local university and country-and-blues events connected to the area’s musical roots. After years of attending bluegrass festivals, he develops his own playing by performing with fiddlers and pickers of different ages and backgrounds. In Blood Oranges, he fronts the group on a custom-produced electric mandolin, with twangy vocals and bluegrass phrasing as a defining part of the band’s sound.

Recordings

The group’s debut album, Corn River, appears in 1991 and includes bluegrass originals alongside versions of songs such as “Dig a Hole” and “Shady Grove”. Lone Green Valley follows in 1992, and The Crying Tree appears in 1994. These releases continue to develop the quartet’s blend of country, bluegrass and rock elements.

After the band

The group disbands in 1994. Mark Spencer later joins Lisa Loeb’s touring band, Cheri Knight continues as a solo performer, and Ryan and Spencer later reunite in Wooden Leg.

Associated act

The name also appears on a separate Leeds lo-fi pop band listing, with Rose Alexander, Ben Lewis, Sarah Bell and Jack Gordon, but the Boston alt-country group is the main act associated with the name.