One Riot One Ranger

Despite sporting a name that is decidedly Texan, One Riot One Ranger is actually based in Columbus, OH, and there's not more than one Texan-born musician in the bunch. The band, also known as 1R1R, was established in 1990, but only two of the band's later five members were present when the group was formed. Singer, bassist, and accordion player Mark Wyatt, who formerly devoted his talents to indie rock and established Great Plains during the 1980s, started the band with multi-instrumentalist Pete Remenyi and Jack Shortlidge. Not long after, Chas Williams came aboard as mandolinist, fiddler, and songwriter. The lineup underwent a few shakeups before settling into its permanent incarnation: Wyatt, Remenyi, Williams, acoustic guitarist Mark Gaskill, and multi-instrumentalist Paul Brown. It took five years for the band to get its lineup nailed down, but once it became cemented with the addition of Gaskill, members headed into the recording studio. The result was an eponymous cassette that was completed in 1995. Not long after its release, One Riot One Ranger signed with Fundamental Records, a label that is based in the southern U.S. Fundamental put out Faces Made for Radio, the group's first CD, the following year. The release snagged the attention of Bill VornDick, a veteran producer with years of experience in the Nashville music scene working with such artists as Ralph Stanley, Doc Watson, and Alison Krauss. VornDick worked on the band's sophomore effort, Side Tracks, and the album easily slid into Gavin's Americana Top 40 in 1998, where it remained for six weeks. Music lovers in the group's hometown took notice, with readers of Columbus Alive naming One Riot One Ranger Best Acoustic Band. The group also went on to earn two consecutive Columbus Music Awards. Following a period of touring across the U.S., the group added Brown to its lineup in 2000 after a few other banjo players came and went. Brown divides his time between One Riot One Ranger and a duo that goes by the name Dr. Paul & Travelin' Tom. The following year, with VornDick again in the producer's chair, the band settled in Nashville to start work on its third album, Flat City Nights. Hayden's Ferry Records issued the album early in 2002. The meaning of the band's name won't be a mystery to anyone familiar with Texas history, but for the uninitiated, the phrase "one riot, one ranger" stems from a glib remark made by one of the Texas Rangers, those Lone Star lawmen with a reputation for behaving larger than life. Legend has it that when a town on the brink of a riot called in the Rangers, but only one of the legendary lawmen showed up, complaints arose. The Texas Ranger, however, confidently waived aside any concern over the lack of an additional force of Rangers, claiming that for one riot, only one ranger was needed. ~ Linda Seida, Rovi