Former Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone is taking a new direction, playing guitar, mandolin, banjo and dobro as one half of Country/Bluegrass duo Uncle Monk. Ramone said: "There are a lot of similarities between punk and old-time music. Both are home-brewed music as opposed to schooled, and both have an earthy energy. And anybody can pick up an instrument and start playing."
The musician, who is on the lookout for an appropriate label to release his new work, says that in his songwriting he "uses the vocabulary of country and bluegrass combined with the aesthetics of punk and alternative music."