who we are

Three singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists crafting evocative songs with engaging arrangements and three voices locked in innovative harmony.

Our songs draw on traditional Americana, filtered through modern alternative pop. Our sound, built around the human voice and acoustic instruments (guitar, dobro, harmonica, mandolin, bass, drums), is tight and direct. Wherever we play, people stop and listen.

radcliffe burt

Rad was one of the leaders of the Millan and Kenzie band. Based in Atlanta, they toured the east coast from 1991 to 1995, when they relocated to Boulder, Colorado, built a regional following, and enjoyed significant local radio play. Having produced five CDs of passionate, earnest music, they parted ways in 1999, and Radcliffe moved to Richmond. He sings, plays guitar and dobro, and writes songs.

amy henderson

Amy has been performing as a soloist and bandleader since the early nineties, between Atlanta, South Carolina, and Richmond. In addition to her work in the Orderlies, she continues to perform as a soloist (sometimes with Rad and/or John sitting in). Amy sings, plays guitar, harmonica, and bass, and writes songs. More info: amyhenderson.com.

john priestley

John played in the indie rock band rake in Blacksburg, Virginia (and later London, UK) from 1989 to 1992. In addition to the Orderlies, John occasionally plays solo ambient music under the stage name of Vilam Priest. John sings, plays guitar, mandolin, bass, and Stick, and writes songs.

how we got orderly

John and Radcliffe met circa 1985. They formed a band that day called Marsupial Inhabitants of the Bean Dip and recorded a furious punk version of Steve Miller's "The Joker." They played music together while on staff at a summer camp in the summers of 1989 and 1990. After that they saw each other only spradically until 2001 when John relocated to Richmond. They immediately started playing music together and writing songs. Radcliffe and John are also members of a brazen rock band called Hoss which occasionally hams it up for wildly appreciative audiences who apparently don't know any better. They met Amy Henderson in 2003 and decided to join forces.

Radcliffe and Amy somehow avoided meeting during the several years both spent working the Atlanta music scene, where they had dozens of personal connections in common — most significantly through Amy's brother, Dave "Zeus" Henderson, the talented multi-instrumentalist and producer who helped with her latest solo CD, Back Down.