Where the Bluegrass Grows

11/28/2007 Stephen L. Betts  (Flash Video Object here)  File this one under “wild and wacky.” The new video from critically-acclaimed stringband Uncle Earl, called “Streak o’ Lean, Streak o’ Fat,” is one of the strangest music videos we’ve seen in a long time. And that’s a good thing! The comical clip depicts a chaotically unfolding Kung Fu clogging battle between warring alien forces in the Chinese restaurant where the Uncle Earl “g’Earls” have stopped for dinner. When the fighting gets dirty, Uncle Earl intervenes and unites the two warring tribes in a joyful dance to their instrumental tune. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, who produced Uncle Earl’s Waterloo, Tennessee, the album from which the track is taken, can be spotted playing piano in the clip. The concept for the video was a collaborative effort between director Tom Krueger (Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2), producer Brad Paul, and band member Kristin Andreassen. Other band members, listed according to instruments they play in the video, include KC Groves on bass, Rayna Gellert on fiddle, and Abigail Washburn on banjo and vocal (singing her own original Chinese lyrics).