If you've ever seen us and wondered "what's up with all the crazy instruments?" here's part of the answer.
Will Shade and Charlie Burse were members of the Memphis Jug Band, which were at the center of the jug band/string band craze of the 1920s and 30s.
These guys were the pioneers of jug band music, combining their virtuosity on guitar, ukuleles, and harmonicas with homemade instruments that had down-home charm: washtub bass, empty whiskey jugs and washboards.
Here's Shade playing his "gut bucket" bass, with Burse playing tenor guitar on the blues standard "Going to Kansas City."
"Jug band" music is really just a combination of the popular songs in rural America in the 20s and 30s, and it covered many styles, including blues, tin pan alley/jazz, hillbilly.
Every time we play, I think of these guys.
2 comments:
That's a great clip. A singing tub player! Who would have thought?
Yup, that's Will Shade! -- he pretty much IS the Memphis Jug Band. I need to find a clip of him playing the harp.
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