A year before Covid, I was chatting with a friend & fellow bass player about what a great instrument the Ukulele is. He told me that he hosts a monthly Uke jam with some friends, playing songs from a book called The Daily Ukulele.
I thought, that sounds fun! After checking out The Daily Ukulele book, it occurred to me that I should create my own book with Punk tunes and Glam Rock songs I grew up hearing on the radio. I started working on a Ukulele songbook, with tunes from The Ramones, Velvet Underground, The Replacements, R.E.M., The Clash, Gloria Gaynor, Tom Jones. Hardly strictly Punk.
Weeks later, I mentioned the idea of a Uke jam to the folks at the Shady Oak and they were open to it! But before we could make this happen, I took a 2-year break from playing music with other people due to a pandemic. I spent those two years playing music in my office and continually updating a Ukulele songbook with new songs.
The Punk Rock Ukulele experiment that was dreamed up seven years ago has evolved and expanded thanks to your interest and enthusiasm. I am truly grateful to everyone who has played at our sessions, and I look forward to trying out some new songs in 2026.
Fun facts about Ukulele Ramblers
1. This group started out as the "punk rock ukulele jam" in January 2023.
2. Our first session at Shady Oak Barrel House was attended by two strummers.
3. In September 2023, we tried out a new format dubbed "UkeStones" playing mostly Brian Jones era Rolling Stones tunes.
4. The following month, the UkeStones book was combined with the UkePunks book, and we adopted the name Ukulele Ramblers.
5. In January 2024, we registered the domain ukulelerambers.net and created a website to provide "resources for ramblers."
6. 75+ players have attended our sessions (not all at once)
7. The original UkeBook punk-centric edition was created in 2022 starting with 25 songs.
8. The current UkeBook has 362 songs, is updated almost every day, and should open in any browser.
9. ForScore is recommended (for iPad users) but is not required, since all the songs are in one book.