(jazz instrumental music) - Right now I just got to get this rattle out of here.

Y'all can go ahead for right now.

(jazz instrumental music) - Hi, we're "Ranky Tanky," and this is our "Sound on Tap."

(jazz instrumental music) ♪ They take our homes, they take our names ♪ ♪ They say that behind four walls ♪ ♪ Is where we'll remain ♪ They take our dreams, they pull us apart ♪ ♪ They'll never know our strength ♪ ♪ They'll never know our hearts ♪ ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ They take our bread, they take our schools ♪ ♪ They say that our only choice, is to play their fool ♪ ♪ They take our land, oh they take our rights ♪ ♪ But they'll never know our power ♪ ♪ We'll keep up the fight ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom (jazz instrumental music) ♪ We'll show you purpose, we'll show you might ♪ ♪ We're gonna show all the reasons ♪ ♪ That what's right is right ♪ Break these walls, break these chains ♪ ♪ Trouble won't last always, when only love remains ♪ ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ We want freedom ♪ Oh, say can you see ♪ We ain't free ♪ Oh, say can you see ♪ We ain't free ♪ Oh, say can you see ♪ We ain't free - The name of the band "Ranky Tanky" comes from actually a kids' game of the same name.

It's one of those kids games that was born down in the Gullah community.

And we thought it was very cool and catchy.

And so we decided to name the band after it, "Ranky Tanky."

Gullah, first of all, it's a geographical location.

It's a community of people.

It's a way of life, Gullah is a language, Gullah is music.

There's so many different things from the community as a whole, geographically speaking, it's a set of islands that start at the Southeastern part of North Carolina.

And it works its way down the coast of South Carolina and down the coast of Georgia to the top of Florida and all of these islands that are just off of the coast of the mainline makeup the Gullah geechee corridor as it's affectionately known.

I guess it was about 2014, 2015, '16, somewhere in that area, where Clay basically came up with this thought of us presenting the music of where we're from.

I remember one of the conversations that he had, that he and I had, and he just said, "Why not us?"

And so we decided that we were gonna put it together and just had some some minor goals that we wanted to hit.

But things turned a little different and it had a snowball effect, and now we're Grammy winners.

- And luckily, we knew each other in advance so we didn't have to put out a Craigslist ad.

- That's right, yeah.

- That's the best part.

- That is the best part.

- Those things.

- No, it's cool.

Like a lot of people don't know that our band is built on like 20 years of 20 plus years of friendship.

But yeah, we started to try to work under the umbrella of playing Gullah music and "Ranky Tanky" about five years ago.

And yeah, it's really opened a lot of doors for us.

It's been amazing.

And we hope to just continue to serve the music and represent Charleston.

(jazz instrumental music) ♪ Foot up on the ladder it's a quarter past eight ♪ ♪ Get this money up so I can dirty my plate ♪ ♪ Ain't gonna catch a fish unless you use the right bait ♪ ♪ Up in the house singing shoo lei loo ♪ ♪ I'm over yonder waiting till they get through ♪ ♪ Sorry but I got myself nothing better to do ♪ ♪ All for you, all for you ♪ All for you, yeah all for you ♪ ♪ All my loving is all for you.

♪ (jazz instrumental music) ♪ Swept off your feet, gotta spit on that boot ♪ ♪ Hop in the seat, give your legs some more room ♪ ♪ I might show you where we keep the full moon ♪ ♪ Struggling in the vineyard ain't gathering no grapes ♪ ♪ Toss them in the basket, before they make an escape ♪ ♪ Gotta straighten up before it's getting too late ♪ ♪ All for you, all for you ♪ All for you, yeah all for you ♪ ♪ All my loving is all for you ♪ All for you, all for you ♪ All for you, yeah all for you ♪ ♪ All my loving is all for you (jazz instrumental music) ♪ The monkey and the lion got to talking one day ♪ ♪ Monkey said lion is the king in every way ♪ ♪ But not everybody else seeing that way ♪ ♪ They talk about your mama and your grandma too ♪ ♪ Too polite to say what they said about you ♪ ♪ Too polite to say if what they say is true ♪ ♪ All for you, all for you ♪ All for you, yeah all for you ♪ ♪ All my loving is all for you ♪ All for you, all for you ♪ All for you, yeah all for you ♪ ♪ All my loving is all for you ♪ All my loving is all for you ♪ All my loving is all for you ♪ All my loving is all for you ♪ All my loving is all for you ♪ It's all for you ♪ It's all for you ♪ Oh yeah, all my loving is all for you ♪ ♪ All my loving is, it's all for you ♪ (jazz instrumental music) ♪ Let me be like a Simmon tree ♪ Grounded by the earth ♪ Let me be like a cat-paw breeze ♪ ♪ Whispered me into birth ♪ Let me be like a Simmon tree ♪ Grounded by the earth ♪ Let me be like a cat-paw breeze ♪ ♪ Whispered me into birth ♪ All that talk, you don't walk, can't you listen ♪ ♪ Fall out of line to find out what you're missing ♪ ♪Got to get lost to exhaust all the rest, chase the change ♪ ♪ Breaking your back on the slack they gave a blessing ♪ ♪ Taking their time in your prime to learn your lesson ♪ ♪ I'll let you know, when I know, that you know ♪ ♪ That'll I'll break free and live again ♪ ♪ Let me be like a Simmon tree ♪ Grounded by the earth ♪ Let me be like a cat-paw breeze ♪ ♪ Whispered me into birth ♪ Holding their hand while you can ♪ ♪ You gotta love them ♪ Breaking your heart from the start to rise above them ♪ ♪ Taking the train through the rain and the snow ♪ ♪ Until you're buried in the ground ♪ ♪ Taking a weight off their pay before they earn it ♪ ♪ Making them stop, make it pop and get up on it ♪ ♪ Don't let them cheat on your beach you gotta own it ♪ ♪ And break every change, oh ♪ Let me be like a Simmon tree ♪ Grounded by the earth ♪ Let me be like a cat-paw breeze ♪ ♪ Whispered me into birth.

(jazz instrumental music) ♪ Fall out of sight, drop a dime and keep on moving ♪ ♪ Give them your time but aware of what you're choosing ♪ ♪ Don't let them stack and attack on your back ♪ ♪ You gotta keep them on the run ♪ ♪ Hitting your mark, it's to dark to see the reason ♪ ♪ Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall, through every season ♪ ♪ Staying alive whist you're trying to break out ♪ ♪ Gotta fly straight into the sunlight, let me be ♪ (drum beating) ♪ Let me be ♪ Let me be (jazz instrumental music) ♪ Let me be ♪ Let me be like a Simmon tree ♪ Grounded by the earth ♪ Let me be like a cat-paw breeze ♪ ♪ Whispered me into birth ♪ Let me be like a Simmon tree ♪ Grounded by the earth ♪ Let me be like a cat-paw breeze ♪ ♪ Whispered me into birth ♪ Yeah, you gotta let me be - Thank you.

(jazz instrumental music) ♪ Down in the darkness yeah, stand by me ♪ ♪ Down in the valley yeah, stand by me ♪ ♪ Don't leave me lonely yeah, stand by me ♪ ♪ Oh lord, oh lord ♪ Stand by me ♪ This world is trouble yeah, stand by me ♪ ♪ This world is broken yeah, stand by me ♪ ♪ I need you to heal me, stand by me ♪ ♪ Oh lord, oh lord ♪ Stand by me ♪ I know that you'll be there for me ♪ ♪ I know you'll be my eyes to see ♪ ♪ Forever find me faithfully ♪ Faithfully, faithfully ♪ Be my redeemer, yeah, stand by me ♪ ♪ Be my healer yeah, stand by me ♪ ♪ You'll be my teacher yeah, stand by me ♪ ♪ Oh lord, oh lord , stand by me ♪ ♪ This house my farther, stand by me ♪ ♪ We call your name lord, stand by me ♪ ♪ We sing your name lord, stand by me ♪ ♪ Oh lord, stand by me (jazz instrumental music) ♪ I know that you'll be there for me ♪ ♪ I know you'll be my eyes to see ♪ ♪ Forever find me faithfully, faithfully, faithfully ♪ ♪ Be my redeemer yeah, stand by me ♪ ♪ Be my healer yeah, stand by me ♪ ♪ You'll be my teacher yeah, stand by me ♪ ♪ Oh lord, oh lord, stand by me ♪ ♪ This house my farther, stand by me ♪ ♪ We call your name lord, stand by me ♪ ♪ We sing your name lord, stand by me ♪ ♪ Oh lord, stand by me ♪ Oh lord, stand by me ♪ Oh lord, stand by me (instrumental music) - Tell them about the time your mama told us we played a song wrong.

- So we have a our first album, self-titled album is full of these Gullah standards as we call them.

And my mother was listening to it and she said, "Oh, well, I like that song that you all did.

That's all right, 'cause we sing that at church.

Y'all sang it wrong, but yeah, it's okay."

(all laughing) But again, that's her interpretation.

One of the beautiful things about the Gullah community is that you can have all of these songs that have the common words and the meaning and everything.

But this neighborhood or this village is gonna do it maybe slightly different from this one.

And it could be a matter of a mile away, this church sings it this way, this neighborhood sings it this way, this neighborhood sings it a different way, but I'm guaranteeing you that if I were in Charleston and I sang that's all right and I can go to Georgetown, South Carolina, or I could go to up around the Wilmington area and sing, that's all right, somebody's gonna know that song and they're gonna jump in.

Well, when we won that Grammy, it was a very monumental moment, not just for us, but for the community.

Number one, it was the first time that Gullah had been present at the Grammy awards.

And even when we're out on the road, there's a lot of times where we will give examples of things from the Gullah community and our audiences will gasp and they have they've come across some of these things, but probably didn't know that the root of that thing was the Gullah community.

And so yeah, it was eye opening for a lot of people that just didn't have any idea about the band or what the music was about or what the the Gullah community is about.

And it did shed some different light, some good different light and everything, but all in all, everybody was ecstatic for us just because we had reached this point.

And I wouldn't say that anybody didn't think that we could, but it's always good to have that celebration.

And everybody that aided you into getting to that point and celebrated with you.

And that was just a monumental thing for all of us and for our whole community.

♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ When we all get together, we going to have a time ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ I got let out, shake it, from Tennessee, shake it ♪ ♪ My sweetheart, shake it, ran into me, shake it ♪ ♪ Oh brer rabbit, shake it, ♪ Shake it in the tree, shake it ♪ ♪ Shaking in the mattress, shake it ♪ ♪ Shaking in the money bank, shake it ♪ ♪ Oh baby, oh baby ♪ Oh baby, oh baby ♪ Dog on the porch, shake it, kicking up fleas, shake it ♪ ♪ Shaking in the yard, shake it ♪ ♪ Scratching up things, shake it ♪ ♪ Way down yonder, shake it ♪ Where I come from, shake it ♪ Girls love boys, shake it ♪ Like a hawk loves corn, shake it ♪ ♪ Oh baby, oh baby ♪ Oh baby, oh baby (jazz instrumental music) ♪ Oh brother rabbit, shake it ♪ It died with the habit, shake it ♪ ♪ In my garden, shake it ♪ Eating up the cabbage, shake it ♪ ♪ One of these days, shake it ♪ It won't be long, shake it ♪ You look for me here, shake it ♪ ♪ And I'll be gone ♪ Oh baby, oh baby ♪ Oh baby, oh baby ♪ Oh baby, oh baby ♪ Oh baby, oh baby ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ Good time, a good time ♪ We're going to have a time ♪ When we all get together ♪ We're all going to have a time ♪ (jazz instrumental music) ♪ Shake it, yeah ♪ Come on, shake it, yeah ♪ Everybody now, shake it, yeah ♪ ♪ Everybody have a good time, shake it ♪ ♪ Get up out your seat yeah, shake it ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ Shake it (jazz instrumental music) ♪ Let me be like a Simmon tree ♪ Grounded by the earth ♪ Let me be like a cat-paw breeze ♪ ♪ Whispered me into birth ♪ Oh let me be like a Simmon tree ♪ ♪ Grounded by the earth ♪ Let me be like a cat-paw breeze ♪