Ralph Carney

Who is Ralph Carney?

Ralph Carney is an American musician. While his primary instruments are various saxophones and clarinets, Carney collects and plays many instruments, often unusual or obscure ones. He was a founding member of Tin Huey, and is perhaps best known for his long association with singer Tom Waits. He has also recorded or performed with Dieselhed, Marc Ribot, The B-52's, Elvis Costello, Jonathan Richman, Les Claypool, Stan Ridgway, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Jed Davis and Bill Laswell, among others. Carney has released several solo albums and was a member of the Oranj Symphonette with fellow Waits alumni Joe Gore and Matt Brubeck. He also heads up San Francisco's Carneyball Johnson, playing on saxophones, Turkish clarinet, piccolo, trumpet, percussion and vocals. The band also features Channel 23 alumnus Kimo Ball on guitar and vocals; Scott Johnson on drums and vocals; and Allen Whitman on bass and vocals.

Ralph is the uncle of The Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney and collaborated with them on their album Attack & Release. He occasionally joined them on stage when they toured that record. He toured with They Might Be Giants, in the fall of 2009.