| Rushad Eggleston | |
| Background: | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth Date: | 30 September 1979 |
| Instrument: | cello, kazoo, guitar, viola |
| Genre: | Rock, jazz, Americana, bluegrass |
| Occupation: | Musician & Composer |
| Years Active: | 1999–present |
| Associated Acts: | Tornado Rider, Crooked Still, The Wild Band of Snee, The Butt Wizards, Fiddlers 4, Darol Anger's Republic of Strings, Beppe Gambetta |
Rushad Robert Eggleston (born September 30, 1979) is an American cellist, composer, jazz vocalist, & performer. Eggleston's music can be eccentric, with many references to fantasy and goblins. Eggleston is known for inventing words, and for his imaginative world called The Land of Sneth.[1]
Eggleston was born to a Parsi mother from Mumbai and a father who renamed himself Raboon.[2] He graduated from Carmel High School in Carmel, California, and, played the cello as a member of the Youth Music Monterey orchestra in Monterey Bay.[3] Later he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, on a full scholarship, the first ever awarded to a string player. There Eggleston studied cello with Associate Professor Eugene Friesen and graduated in May 2003.
After releasing a small-press album called Nico and Rushad in 1999 (with fellow musician Nico Georis), Eggleston made his large-scale recording debut with his self-titled Compass Records release with Fiddlers 4, which was nominated for a 2002 Grammy, as well as with Darol Anger's Republic of Strings, bringing him to national prominence. Eggleston has toured extensively with Darol Anger's Republic of Strings, Fiddler's 4, and the alternative folk/bluegrass group he helped found, Crooked Still, and he has performed in 49 states and more than 15 countries as of 2013.[4] Crooked Still released two CDs with Eggleston, Hop High in 2004 and Shaken by a Low Sound in 2006. Eggleston also released a more experimental album named Playhouse of the Universe on July 10, 2006, with The Wild Band of Snee, as well as the album, Rushad Eggleston & The Butt Wizards. Eggleston left Crooked Still in November 2007 to pursue other styles of music. He was replaced by Brittany Haas on fiddle & Tristan Clarridge on cello.
Eggleston was an instructor at Mark O'Connor's fiddle camps from 2001 to 2007, as well as at Mike Block's String Camp in 2012 and 2013.[5] He has also taught Cello at Maine Fiddle Camp at camp NEOFA, at Valley of the Moon (2015), Big Sur Fiddle Camp, and Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp (2013, 2014). Eggleston has also guest lectured at colleges & universities including Berkelee, Cornish (Seattle), Bates College (Maine), and Oberlin (Ohio). Eggleston gave a TEDx talk in 2013 at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto.
Eggleston formed the power trio Tornado Rider consisting of Scott Manke (drums) and Graham Terry (bass) in 2008, and their debut album Do You Have Time (2009) was followed up by Jark Matter (2011). The high energy performances have included Eggleston crowd surfing repeatedly and climbing stage scaffolding. Tornado Rider has been equated with frogs playing metal, and many of the songs are simple yet catchy anthems about animals. Tornado Rider fans are strongest in Florida and the southeast, and the band will occasionally reunite to play festivals. (Wakarusa 2013, SpringFest 2014, Bear Mtn Music Fest 2015, SpringReunion 2017).
Eggleston released his first full-length solo album, The Rushad Eggleston Show in 2013. This was followed by twin albums Very Advanced Song Machine and Growl & Glide, his first solo cello recording, in 2015. He has been touring as a solo act since 2013, often referring to himself as Rushadicus or simply as the Cello Goblin. Eggleston has brought the Land of Sneth to people in places like Australia, Bali, Lithuania, and Sicily, building a network of global fans.[6]
In 2015, Eggleston did a brief tour featuring duet concerts with guitarist Beppe Gambetta, after playing in Beppe's hometown of Genoa, Italy for the Acoustic Nights festival.[7]
Eggleston proposed to Lauren Alia Collins, a model and artist from Seattle, in a hot air balloon on May 15, 2013. Collins, who is also of Parsi descent, being one quarter Parsi, was affectionately nicknamed "Mouse Princess" by Eggleston.[8] She created Eggleston a website, press kit, international + domestic tours, and merchandise for the five years they were together. She filmed both Bush Charge & I Love Tofu, Eggleston’s viral videos. They married on September 27, 2015, under a full moon eclipse in Big Sur, CA. Wedding performers included Elephant Revival, Darol Anger, Phoebe Hunt, Ben Hunter and many others. Mouse Princess and Eggleston divorced in 2018.
Eggleston is a vegan and has been known to sing about his love of tofu.[9]