Wild Carrot (band)

Wild Carrot (band)

Wild Carrot is an American Roots music duo from Cincinnati, Ohio. The group is made up primarily of husband and wife Pam Temple and Spencer Funk. They also perform as a quartet—Wild Carrot & the Roots Band—with Brenda Wolfersberger (bass, vocals) and Brandt Smith (banjo, Dobro, vocals).

In 2003 and again in 2006 the duo was selected by the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, Chile to represent the United States as Cultural Ambassadors to Chile. Their visit included performances at Expoinglés, a Santiago festival that promotes English as a second language in Chile and celebrates the cultures of several English-speaking countries.

The sound of the group has at times drawn comparison to folk duos, but Wild Carrot has a sound all their own. Temple provides the songs, soprano vocals, and guitar accompaniment, while Funk adds fingerstyle guitar, mandolin, and harmony vocals. On recordings they have been joined by Don Porterfield (bass), Chris Rosser (percussion & vocals), and others, including Brandt Smith and Brenda Wolfersberger. Their 2008 recording, I've Heard That Song Before, is a collaboration with pianist Hank Ross (Red Onion Jazz Band) and features many of the swing standards the duo regularly performs in a more traditional jazz setting. In 2011, they released Crowd Around the Mic: Live, recorded over two live performances and funded largely by fan contributions. The intimacy of the performance translates to the disc with all the charm that characterizes their shows and their music in general.

When they are not touring, Funk also teaches private guitar and mandolin lessons and Temple is an on-air music host for NPR affiliate WNKU, which serves Greater Cincinnati, Dayton, and Portsmouth, Ohio.