About Us

Ramalama is a vocal doo wop band entertaining audiences across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. RamaLama features the talents of T-Dub (Tom Wilson), Bubba (Radio's Jeff Brown), Millie (Amelia McGinnis), Tex (Luke Lorenz), Shorty (John Zimmerman), and Guinness (Eric McGinnis). RamaLama averages 30 performances annually, with a blend of public concerts and private events. The mixed and varied talents of the band members shine during performances, making for fun and interactive audience experiences. Whether performing to a packed venue, busy outdoor concert, or strolling at a private dinner party, RamaLama is pure entertainment - bringing the best of the oldies of the 1950s and 1960s doo-wop to life.

Formed in 2015, the band's four original members (T-dub, Shorty, Bubba, and Tex) first performed in front of the Corner Room in State College, PA at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. Police quickly broke up the show, citing lack of permits. Fast forward to 2016, and RamaLama would be an invited performer at the same festival taking the grandstand stage in 2016.

The original members were joined in the fall of 2015 by Eric McGinnis (Guinness) and Lisa Lenze (Dot) who joined them for a show in November of 2015 at the State College Elks Club (now Mountain View Country Club). The addition of new members sparked the learning of dozens of new tunes and RamaLama began scheduling performances along the local fair and festival circuit in Central Pennsylvania. 

The increase in bookings for public and private events created scheduling challenges for Dot, who decided to step away from the band in May of 2017 to tend to a busy career and family life. RamaLama started looking for a new female to join the band, and didn't have to look far. Amelia McGinnis, Guinness's spouse, was waiting in the wings and jumped in with gusto.

In 2017 RamaLama also turned toward community service, helping to raise funds for charitable organizations through their "Singing for Supper" events. In 2018 T-Dub participated in Over the Edge, a rappelling fundraiser in support of regional human service agencies. Guinness joined T-Dub in 2019. Through all of the philanthropic efforts, since its founding RamaLama has directly raised nearly $10,000 for charities, and has performed at charitable events that have raised tens of thousands more.  

The members of RamaLama have remained static since May of 2017, allowing the band to focus on expanding its repertoire and improving the quality of performances. RamaLama performs nearly 100 of the top classic doo wop tunes of the 1950s and 1960s and is always learning more. They have added several Christmas doo wop and oldies tunes, as well as exploring doo wop arrangements of more contemporary pop music. 

In 2020 RamaLama led the way in the Central Pennsylvania music scene to shift to streaming performances. Using home recording equipment, the band individually recorded several sets of music which were then mixed and produced. These musical sets were shared with the United Way and other charitable organizations who held online concert fundraisers. 

In the post-pandemic world, RamaLama is hitting the ground running in 2021 with a healthy summer festival and concert schedule, adding several new performances venues throughout Pennsylvania and revisiting our roots in Central Pennsylvania.   

T-Dub, Bubba, Shorty, Millie, Tex and Guinness