Bio

Winner of Hodag Country Festival’s 2024 Country Band Championship

One of five nominees (and only one from WI) for a 2023 Midwest Country Music Award for Tribute Band of the Year

Five 2024 Wisconsin Area Music Industry nominations, including Cover Band, Performer (Matt), Male Singer (Matt), Bassist (Frank the Tank), and Drummer (Eric)

The Ramble is a country cover band (with a sprinkle of originals) out of Brooklyn, WI.  We lean towards traditional country, and our sweet spot gravitates towards 90’s-00’s country.  In July 2024, after winning a regional competition, we competed in the Hodag Festival’s statewide Best Country Band competition.  We placed first!  We will be back at Hodag to kick off the 2025 festival with an entire set.

Matt Willey (aka Matthew James, aka Karaoke Matt) is our dynamic front person.  Matt has over 55K followers and over 11M views on TikTok and has spent some time in Nashville lately on stages like Tootsies and Honky Tonk School.  The band consists of some southern WI music scene veterans, including Dan Kennedy (Two Trick Pony, The Also-Rans, Mark Croft, solo artist), Frank Queram (35 South, Playground of Sound), Carl Rozas (The Soggy Prairie Boys), Eric Salisbury (Loving Cup, The Holler, Mason Meyer, The Also-Rans), and rounded out with talented newcomer Kevin Wokosin.  The instrumentation of the 6-piece is drums, bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar/keys, fiddle, and vocals.

In addition to Hodag Festival, we’ve headlined community concert series from Fort Atkinson to Plover, played a main stage at Brat Fest multiple times, headlined the UW’s Memorial Terrace stage, opened for Kylie Morgan at Barn Bash 3, backed Kristie Kraus, and performed at the 2024 Ashley for the Arts Festival.  We know how to read a crowd and are happy to work with special events or festivals.  We’d sure love the opportunity to build a relationship with you! 

live video

Live videos from fans and the band are hitting our Facebook page on a regular basis, but here are a few samples you might check out…

Sold (John Michael Montgomery) and The Dance (Garth Brooks) from Crystal Grand Music Theatre (Wisconsin Dells, WI)

Real Good Man (Tim McGraw) from Brat Fest 2024 (Madison, WI)

Friends In Low Places (Garth Brooks) from Hodag Country Festival (Rhinelander, WI)

Alright (Darius Rucker) from The Hill (Waupan, WI)

Boot Scootin’ (Brooks and Dunn) from Memorial Union Terrace (Madison, WI)

Ol’ Red (Blake Shelton) from Capital Brewery (Middleton, WI)

Images

Visit the Gallery Page for downloadable images. Don’t find what you need?…use our Contact Page.