Whiskey Bent Valley Boys

Whiskey Bent Valley Boys

By: Moose

From PeWee Valley, Kentucky (and plenty of downed bottles of whiskey and dancin’) these four fellers bring their old-timey bluegrass music. Pewee Valley, located in the rolling hills of Kentucky is home to them, and where it all began.

Whiskey Bent is JR on the fiddle, Robert “Mason” Dixon picking the guitar, Leroy Duane Jones on upright bass, and Chance Wagner rounding it all off with his old-timey banjo flailin’. With this brand of roots music, they take you through the hollers to a style that has been lying in wait. Where at a young age Mason traveled with his parents in their bluegrass band, and soon met JR through JR’s older brother a childhood friend of Mason’s, and his best friend. Mason taught both JR and Leroy and soon these three found the makin’s of what is now known as the Whiskey Bent Valley Boys. Soon after by “chance” they met Chance Wagner, after his band had met a crossroads, and rounded it all off for these boys.  

They bring their style of old-timey bluegrass up from under the ground and onto your plate, in the hopes that for a little while you can dance, sing, and enjoy the sounds of music that has been passed down to them from grandmas, grandads, moms, and dads. They bring it from out of the garage, and from up off the porch for you all to get whiskey bent with them.

As family goes with these boys, there is no shortage of that. Mason’s parents are their biggest supporters. Whether it is driving them around the country in the RV, filling their bellies, or just showing some good ol’, southern hospitality, they are a driving force behind the band, both literally and figuratively. Family is what makes this all the more pleasurable for them.

There are no frills with these guys, just a good old, down-home, foot-stomping fun time. The smile never leaves JR’s face as that fiddle wails and sings along with songs from generations passed. They sit in their half circle and bring to you songs that come straight out of the Appalachian Mountains. With that, make no mistake about it, they can hold their own, and will gladly lend a tune for anyone who has an ear. Their new release, “Peter Tracks” is now available on their website, and you can check ‘em out on any of the obligatory social media sites, Facebook, Twitter, and listen on Reverbnation.

Come see them this Thursday,September 5th at Washington Park for your own trip to PeWee Valley, Ky via Cincinnati.

the latest installment is a bio on Ben Knight and the Well Digger's

Ben Knight and the Well Digger's 

A bio by: Moose

                In January of 2012 Ben Knight moved up to Cincinnati and decided that when he got here after being in school that it was just not for him right now. By pure chance he went to Molly Malone's in Covington, Kentucky where The Tillers were playing. Ben hung around for a little bit and began talking to Sean Geil of The Tillers. Sean told him about an open mic on Tuesday nights in which he hosted at The Crow's Nest in Cincinnati. Ben went, "religiously" as he told me, and from there was able to start doing small gigs in and around town. Then at Stanley's Pub on the "eastside" of town he met Elia Burkhart of Elia Goat and the Natural Horns. Ben approached Elia about making some music together and soon after they were gigging around town. They figured out a name had some gigs and as they were gigging they came to a conclusion that they wanted another man to come along. Again they reached out to a friend James Funk of Red Beard's Revenge who got them in touch with Jeremy Smart of Josh Eagle and the Harvest City. Four months later, after Jeremy decided it was time to move on from his friends (and still good friends) Josh Eagle and the Harvest City, he joined up with Ben and Elia which is now Ben Knight and the Well Diggers.

                With Ben Knight on acoustic guitar or banjo, which he handmade, Elia Burkhart on upright bass, and Jeremy Smart on lead guitar they bring a brand of country folk music that is unique and fresh. Ben has a unique ability to bring different characters into different places and or situations into his songwriting. His picking of the banjo or guitar wraps those stories around upbeat and get ya thinkin' kind of melodies. Elia brings his accomplished bass playing with not only thumping the strings but seemingly putting some percussion behind it as well. Almost like cross sticking a snare drum as he pops and plays. And too round it all out Jeremy adds a lead guitar that has the blues and soul that isn't loud or boisterous, but just right for these Well Diggers.

                I had a recent conversation with Ben and Jeremy in which I asked them both "why music?" Ben said "Music, because I'm a thrill seeker. Music, because I am romanced by what a good song can do to or for the listener and songwriter." That feeling is portrayed through his music. Jeremy said something that I have heard previously and feel myself he said "Music is a universal language. It's a cliché, but music chooses you. I couldn't stop playing (even) if I wanted to. It's in my blood. And it's a damn fine way to make a living if you can make it work. I love touring and meeting folks all over the country. Good work if you can get it." Through his lead guitar and background vocals the passion bleeds from that guitar.

                These three gentleman have a chemistry through their songs. They have only been together for about a year, but through the songs and live shows you would think they had been together much longer. They evoke the blues, through Jeremy's leads, jazz through Elia's upright bass, and folk and bluegrass through Ben's acoustic and banjo. They come to us via different ways of getting there through a move, chance meetings, and different bands and through these chance encounters we get Ben Knight and the Well Digger's.

                They will be touring very soon and will have their first album set to release, aptly titled “Diving Rod” on September 13th. You can check them out at benknightandthewelldiggers.com or on facebook. This brand of country, folk, and blues this Well Diggers music is pure and raw. Check them out they are sure to be a good time.

                

a preview of things to come and things in the works

Good afternoon folks the latest bio on, hahahahah i won't say, is in the works I should have it up later today. I suppose I could say.
Ben Knight and the Well Diggers is in the works. Shiny and the Spoon's new album will be coming to you by next week. I've been getting a nice response from friends and musicians so with all of you help we can keep this going.
I have been honored by Buffalo Wabs to do a piece on the Whispering Beard Folk Festival that will be coming in about a week or so. I asked Ian of Terminal Union to review his album and that too will be coming soon. A lot of things in the works and will be coming soon.
So stay tuned and hope to see a bunch of you at The Whispering Beard Folk Festival happening this Friday August 23rd through August 25th.

Ring Around the Moon the lastest album from My Brother the Bear

Ring Around the Moon

By: My Brother the Bear

Review by: Moose

My Brother the Bear is Daniel Bayer. His latest album "Ring Around the Moon" is ten tracks that convey an inner monologue of life, love, and leaving home and coming back. Through his travels and time spent in the military, he brings the conversation from inside himself onto these ten tracks. A falsetto, guitar, harmonica, kick drum, some friends, and whistling My Brother the Bear for almost an hour brings you on the road with him. He invites you to share in the experiences that have lead him from leaving home and to his return. Making his home now in Cincinnati he brings to life his "inner monologue" as he recently told me.

The opening track "Huckleberry Finn" starts us on the road and into the inner workings of this singer songwriter. Just "knock another down" and keep going he says. To the next track "I'm Coming Home" a track that has the struggle with leaving home and then having to come back. The same brick the same freeway signs a place that on the outside never changed but inside you see it through a different lens. A couple tracks later we are introduced to a song called "Far Apart and Few Between" in which My Brother the Bear leaves his falsetto at the proverbial doorstep and speaks with a candor of someone thinking out loud of the places that have been seen and the place he is coming back to. In the next track "Abigail" comes to our ears a track that Bayer gathered twelve of his closest musician friends to help this song become full and breathe.

The album comes to a close with a Stephen Foster classic "Hard Times Come Again No More." With this track the album is wrapped up and closes with a thought. That through all the troubles of love, life, being away from home and coming back there is still always tomorrow..."Every day you have lingered all around my cabin door, oh hard times come again no more"....Sung calmly and distinctly through a melodic tone of voice you can hear the hope of better days to come.

These ten tracks that My Brother the Bear lends to our ears gives us insight into a songwriter who has traveled around a bit and seen life and love through a lens of a hopeful tomorrow, with the past always on his heels. I had the pleasure of asking him recently "why music?" And he said without skipping a beat "It's universal." Through this album he gives you a glimpse into his world that much of us have probably been down. For almost an hour you are welcomed inside the world of My Brother the Bear to get lost behind a falsetto that strikes that good chord maybe sometimes lost within one's soul.

The album will officially be released on the 16th of August with Bayer having an album release show at The Crow's Nest in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He will be playing the Whispering Beard Folk Festival (Aug. 23-25) followed by a mini tour in September. You can visit his website: http://mybrotherthebear.com/ for any other news or updates or check him out on Facebook or Reverbnation, and introduce yourself to this refreshing brand of My Brother the Bear's music.

Blue Caboose

Blue Caboose

By: Moose

In December of 2010, three guys from three different bands found themselves needing something new. These three fellas are Tony Hall, Sleepy Andy Tracy, and Michael "Marty" Martin. Tony was in a band called Zen Lunatics, Sleepy Andy in Eazy, and Marty in Perfect Norm. They got together and formed a bluegrass, folky, old-timey band called Blue Caboose.

The band's namesake was an old, blue Caboose near Queensgate, in what I like to call the "Warehouse District" of Cincinnati.

These three gentlemen, with one microphone, perform with Sleepy Andy playing the banjo, mandolin and harmonica, Marty on accordion and keyboard with Tony on guitar and an iron cooking skillet. All three sing the songs that bring to life a rock and a sway of that last car - the caboose - pounding the rail.

In a smoky room called "The Lounge" at The Southgate House Revival in Newport, KY, I sat quietly and listened to these guys sing originals and covers, all the while the smile never leaving my face. It was infectious. They have an innate ability to bring fun to the music that they enjoy playing. Whether it is to a full room, or, just you, music is what these guys do. They leave it up there on the proverbial stage for you to listen and enjoy.

They encapsulate a down-home fun time. The jokes don't stop, and the music seems to never end, and you don't want it to. The first song, "Sittin' on Top of the World" featured an awesome accordion solo - yes - an accordion solo. The accordion is their something extra. Or how can you ever go wrong with playing The Jungle Book's "The Bare Necessities" (of life, that is)? They can also bring you back to Cincinnati's Over-the Rhine with a song called "Goin' O'er the Rhine (Diddle Um Day); which tells the story, with an up tempo melody, of the changes that have been taking place there.

They slow it down as well with a song called "Tennessee" which made me want to travel back there with a different set of eyes. But, it was when Andy and Marty put their instruments down (except guitar) and the three of them used the instrument they were born with: their voice. Then, I could really tell what these guys were about: simplicity at its finest. Nothing unnecessarily fancy with these guys, just plain and simple their version of Blue Caboosin', folk, country, old-timey, bluegrass music.

On this National Dance Day "The Skillet Song" which, is a must-see, brought the stompin' and clappin'. People literally stopped in their tracks as Tony wailed away on his skillet with a set of drum sticks. They came down off the stage and played to the bar, the crowd, and to their fans.

This is their mix of sound, some original, some covers. They bring their roots and their hodge-podge of influences into each song.  I asked John Baker, the owner of a great venue, "The Plain Folk Cafe", how he would describe Blue Caboose? He said, "I would say that their sound is like bluegrass, folk, funk, polka, jazz, and jam rock all had a big orgy. Then, Bluegrass ended up pregnant, not knowing which of the others was the father, and gave birth to Blue Caboose."

Music is what these guys do. I asked Tony a two word question that always plays in my head with musicians: "Why music?" His answer, which show's in Blue Caboose's Music: "There is no other choice."

That, my friends, gets to their core. Go ahead and check 'em out www.bluecaboose.net and check out their album, Modern Limited, and see for yourself why these guys had "no other choice" than to do what they love. While you're there, do yourself a favor and head out to one of the many upcoming shows for Blue Caboose. You will not be disappointed and will surely have a fun time.

new things

it's been a while folks, but you should be seeing more posts on a more frequent basis. overhauled myself and we will see where this thing goes.
hope all is well with everyone stay tuned for the new direction in which this is going to go...

hunger and halfway home

Hunger & Halfway Home 

Intersections and street corners just me and this sign

Homeless and any little bit will help.

Been halfway to home a thousand times

Can't seem to bring myself to go back.

Hunger sets in like the dark of night

But I'm free out here with choices I make.

Ain't got a dollar to my name

Freedom you can't buy anyway and I don't need fame.

Livin' under a bridge any little bit helps

Livin' on the streets any winds blow seems right.

Livin' under a bridge and takin' step by step

Tryin' to get at least halfway to home.

I wake up with the sun as she peers through the morning sky

Homeless and wandering troubles all by and by.

I'll meet ya on the other side from here to then

My freedom is all I need and glory is in my pen.