The Cleverlys
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The Cleverlys | |
|---|---|
 "DVD", Paul Harris ("Digger Cleverly"), and "Digger Jr. Jr. Jr." in 2019 | |
| Background information | |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Labels | Mountain Home |
| Members | Paul Harris ("Digger Cleverly") |
| Past members | Irl Hees ("Miles Cleverly") |
The Cleverlys are a bluegrass & comedy cover band. The members play the double bass, banjos, and fiddles.
The fiction
![](#/media/File:"Digger"_Cleverly,_Jackson_TN,_24_October_2019.jpg)
Paul Harris grew up in Arkansas and began working in entertainment in 1994, starting with comedy sketches before moving to stand-up comedy and finally comedy music. With experience in a punk music band under his belt, Harris moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2006 to focus on the music industry there. Harris initially pitched his "Cleverlys" idea as a television show, but when talent agents began calling for the band,[1] The Cleverlys were founded in 2009.[2]
The new band first focused on covering hip hop and rhythm and blues songs for their intrinsic contrast to bluegrass music. Harris told The News & Advance in 2019 that his goal was to raise the standard for bluegrass comedy, away from the "podunk hillbilly, black[ed-out] tooth, bow tie, that type of thing". The band's lineup has changed over the years, something Harris attributed to strange arrangements and the unfamiliarity of character acting as "Cleverly" family members.[2]
Digger Cleverly's (Harris) father and four uncles founded the band in 1952 as the Cleverly Trio. Digger toured with Leif Garrett as the teen idol's E-string tuner before taking over the family band as its new patriarch. When they're not performing, the Cleverlys run their alpaca farm in Cane Spur, Arkansas, producing "everything from alpaca sausages and dairy products to woolly lingerie — though the latter hasn't quite caught on yet".[2]
For new group members to get accustomed to their "Cleverly" alter egos, the band would get into character and walk around the towns in which they were performing as practice. Irl Hees played the band's blind bassist ("Miles Cleverly"), and related to The Boot how a local believed he was blind all the way to the driver's seat of his car.[3]
Membership
Since 2009, band members have included Irl Hees ("Miles Cleverly") on double bass, Steve Bush ("Vernon Dean 'VD' Cleverly")[3] on banjo, Mark Pearman ("Otto Cleverly") on fiddle, Stevie Wilkerson ("Harvey D. Cleverly") on drums,[4] "Digger Jr.", "Digger Jr. Jr.", "Dale Vernon Dale 'DVD'", "Turtle", "Sock", and "Ricky Lloyd".[2]
When musicians leave the group, the band's fictional history is amended duly: when Hees left the group, it was decided that his character was "arrested for running a bloody sloth-fighting ring." Harris does not kill the characters, to allow musicians to re-adopt them if the opportunity arises in the future.[2]