The Burnells

The Burnells (originally The Happy Burnells) is a seven-piece alt-country and country-rock band which was active from 1997 to 2002 and reunited in 2019.

The Happy Burnells was formed by Mark Kelly, Mike Fields, Gary Hyche, Ed Reynolds and Jason Ruha as a successor to Teflon Don Juan. The lineup was rounded out when vocalist Kat Beckham joined. The group played mostly locally, and appeared at the City Stages music festival in 1998 and 1999.

The band split up when Beckham's daughter was born in 2002. Kelly, Hyche and Ruha continued to perform with Bart Jones and Kenny McDowell as Menewa.

In 2019, with Beckham's daughter leaving home, the Happy Burnells (minus Reynolds) reunited. The group invited new members Jubal John and Stuart Oates. The new, larger group considered using the name "The Barn Owls", but finding another group by that name, they simply dropped the modifier from the former band's name to reflect their broader range of experiences. Keyboardist Stuart McNair joined them for their first album, Room Enough.

Albums

• The Burnells (2019) Room Enough.

External links

• The Burnells website