 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(July 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Ajug band is aband employing ajug player and a mix of conventional and homemade instruments. These homemade instruments are ordinary objects adapted to or modified for making sound, like thewashtub bass,washboard,spoons,bones, stovepipe,jew's harp, andcomb and tissue paper. The term 'jug band' is loosely used in referring to ensembles that also incorporate homemade instruments, but those are more accurately referred to asskiffle bands,spasm bands, or juke (or jook) bands (seejuke joint) because they do not include a jug player.[1]
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(August 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Early jug bands were typically made up ofAfrican-Americanvaudeville andmedicine show musicians. Beginning in the urbanSouth (namely, Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis, Tennessee), they played a mixture ofblues,ragtime, andjazz. The history of jug bands is related to thedevelopment of the blues. The informal and energetic music of the jug bands also contributed to the development ofrock and roll.
The jug sound is made by taking ajug (usually made of glass or stoneware) and buzzing the lips into its mouth from about an inch away. As with brass instruments, changes in pitch are controlled by alteringlip tension, and an accomplished jug player could have a two-octave range. The stovepipe (usually a section of tin pipe, three or four inches in diameter) is played in much the same manner, with the pipe rather than the jug serving as the resonating chamber. There is some similarity to thedidgeridoo, but there is no contact between the stovepipe and the player's lips. Some jug and stovepipe players utilize throat vocalization along with lip buzzing, as with the didgeridoo.
The swooping sounds of the jug fill a musical role halfway between thetrombone andsousaphone ortuba inDixieland bands, playing mid- and lower-range harmonies in rhythm.
In the early days of jug band music, homemade guitars and mandolins were sometimes made from the necks of discarded manufactured guitars fastened to large gourds that were flattened on one side, with a sound-hole cut into the flat side, before drying. Banjos were sometimes made from a discarded guitar neck and a metal pie plate.
Jug bands fromLouisville, Kentucky, were the first to record. The violinist Clifford Hayes's Old Southern Jug Band recorded as early as 1923.[2] Whistler & His Jug Band, often making use of anose whistle, first recorded in September 1924 forGennett Records.[3]Earl McDonald's Original Louisville Jug Band andDixieland Jug Blowers were also among the first to record. The vaudeville-blues singerSara Martin and "The Blue Yodeler",Jimmie Rodgers, both employed these bands for their recordings. Louisville bands often used whiskey jugs and were more jazz-oriented, a melding ofstring band and ragtime influences. Jug bands madestreet performances, played at parties, and began entertaining onriverboats on theOhio River around 1900 and first appeared at theKentucky Derby in 1903.
Jug bands from theMemphis area were more firmly rooted incountry blues,hokum, and earlierAfrican-American music traditions.Will Shade'sMemphis Jug Band andGus Cannon's Jug Stompers recorded forRalph Peer, starting in 1927,[4] many great songs that became the basis for the later jug band revival, including "Stealin'," "Jug Band Music," "On the Road Again," "Whoa, Mule," "Minglewood Blues," and "Walk Right In". Many songs had "blues" in the title, including "Coal Oil Blues" and "Lumpy Man Blues," but were not traditional 12-bar blues.[5]
The Memphis Jug Band and Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers featuredharmonica played by Will Shade andNoah Lewis, respectively. Other bands from the Memphis area were Jack Kelly and His South Memphis Jug Band,[6] Jed Davenport and Dewey Corley's Beale Street Jug Band, and Noah Lewis's Jug Band.Ma Rainey's tub-jug band featured the first recordings of the slide guitaristTampa Red, who later formed his own Hokum Jug Band.Big Bill Broonzy andMemphis Minnie cut a few sides each backed up by their own jug bands; Memphis Minnie also sang and played with the Memphis Jug Band. Memphis jug band music is closely associated withMemphis blues.
TheCincinnati Jug Band recorded forParamount Records in 1929, withStovepipe No. 1 on the stovepipe.[7]
The Seven Gallon Jug Band, includingClarence Williams on jug andWillie "The Lion" Smith on piano, recorded forColumbia Records in 1929.[8]
TheBirmingham Jug Band, includingJaybird Coleman andBig Joe Williams, and King David's Jug Band recorded forOkeh Records in 1930 inAtlanta, Georgia.[9]
Daddy Stovepipe and Mississippi Sarah recorded forVocalion Records in 1931.
The 1930s depression and the devastating effect of radio on record sales reduced the output of jug band music to a trickle. The last sides by Cannon and the Memphis Jug Band were made in 1930 and 1934, respectively. Cannon and Will Shade were recorded again in 1956 bySam Charters on a field trip forFolkways Records. The sound of the washboard and tub bass, however, lasted well into the 1940s as an integral part of the "Bluebird beat" in Chicago.Bukka White's "Fixin' to Die", recorded in Chicago in 1940, is driven by a syncopated washboard backup.
One of the first recordings of the folk era jug band revival was by the Orange Blossom Jug Five,Skiffle in Stereo, made in 1958 for the poorly-distributedLyrichord label. It was also the first recording by the New York folk singerDave Van Ronk and featuredSam Charters, author ofThe Country Blues, his wife Ann, as well asLen Kunstadt, co-owner of theSpivey Records label. Van Ronk would revisit the genre in 1964 with the albumDave Van Ronk and the Ragtime Jug Stompers, though his ragtime guitar picking and repertoire influenced many subsequent jug bands. Another early recording group was Jolly Joe's Jug Band, led by the record collectorJoe Bussard, and released on his own Fonotone label as 78 rpm records. Eventually these were collected on LP byPiedmont Records.
Gus Cannon's "Walk Right In" was a number 1 hit forthe Rooftop Singers in 1963, the only time a jug band song topped the charts. Theseone-hit wonders even made an appearance at that year'sNewport Folk Festival before fading into obscurity.[10] The song's success brought Cannon himself back into theStax Records studios in Memphis for his last recordings that same year at age 79. The album,Walk Right In, features Cannon on banjo and his old friends Will Shade on jug and Milton Roby on washboard. The album consists of 13 of his old hits, with Cannon interjecting comments and telling stories about the songs. Also in 1963,Starday Records releasedThe Original Talking Blues Man, by Robert Lunn with Jug & Washboard Band.[11]
This brief flurry of interest in the genre sparked the formation of a few jug bands that reached national prominence. TheJim Kweskin Jug Band of Cambridge, Massachusetts, which recorded forVanguard Records, featured the washtub bass and jug playerFritz Richmond, who later played jug onWarren Zevon's "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead." The New York-basedEven Dozen Jug Band wasElektra Records' answer to the Kweskin band and featured, among others,Maria D'Amato,Joshua Rifkin,David Grisman,Stefan Grossman,John Sebastian, andSteve Katz. Maria D'Amato then joined the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, later marrying the guitaristGeoff Muldaur.Artie Traum also formed a jug band at this time, calledThe True Endeavor Jug Band. The13th Floor Elevators, a band from Austin, Texas, formed as an electric jug band, featuringTommy Hall as electric jug player. A similar revival began in theUK in the 1960s, possibly as an offshoot of the revival in the United States.[citation needed] A number of jug bands appeared there in the late 1960s in addition to theskiffle bands, including the Anglo-American Filharmonious Jug Band.
The musicians playing in jug music revival groups went on to form other bands.John Sebastian founded the pop music group theLovin' Spoonful and later continued as a successful solo artist.Country Joe and the Fish came from the Instant Action Jug Band.Mungo Jerry, which evolved from an earlier blues group,Good Earth, was in effect a jug band on their first live performances and recordings, thanks to their use of jug (played by the group's banjo player, Paul King, who left in 1972), and washboard, contributed by regular "extra member"Joe Rush.Jesse Colin Young moved to the West Coast and formed theYoungbloods, whose first hit was "Grizzly Bear," a jug band standard. Another group with jug band roots was theGrateful Dead. Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan were in Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions before forming the Warlocks, which evolved into the Grateful Dead. Aself-titled CD of Mother McCree's jug band music recorded in 1964 was released in 1999. Maria Muldaur, Geoff Muldaur, David Grisman, and Stefan Grossman all continued with successful solo careers. TheNitty Gritty Dirt Band also started as a jug band.
Pop-rock tributes to jug band music includeWilly and the Poor Boys, byCreedence Clearwater Revival, and "Jug Band Music" by theLovin' Spoonful. The Spoonful also mined the old songs. In addition to doing versions of songs from the classic jug band repertoire on their first album,Do You Believe in Magic (1965), such as "Blues in the Bottle," "Sportin' Life," "My Gal," "Fishin' Blues," and "Wild About My Lovin'," Sebastian's "Younger Girl" used the melody of Gus Cannon's "Prison Wall Blues." Indeed, the song "Do You Believe in Magic," a Top Ten hit,[12] mentioned the genre in its lyrics: "If you believe in magic, don't bother to choose / If it's jug band music or rhythm and blues / Just go and listen, it'll start with a smile / That won't wipe off your face no matter how hard you try." That instantaneous joy many have felt upon first listening to jug band music contributes to its fans' long-lasting affection and the genre's longevity.
The 1971 children's bookEmmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas byLillian Hoban andRussell Hoban and its 1977television film adaptation feature a jug band composed of woodland creatures. The film version featuresMuppets characters and a soundtrack composed byPaul Williams.
Jug bands have continued to exist and evolve to the present day. John Sebastian still leads the J-Band, which included not only musicians from the modernfolk revival such as the lateFritz Richmond from the Kweskin band, but also the lateYank Rachell, mandolin player and jug band leader from the original era. Some bands remain faithful to the original roots, while others continually expand the jug band repertoire to include other folk music, popular music, jazz andclassical music forms, such as The Juggernaut Jug Band[13] of Louisville, Kentucky (formed in the late 1960s and possibly the only full-time jug band in existence at this time), The Cincinnati Dancing Pigs (who also have been together for 40 years),Carolina Chocolate Drops (an African-American jug band that also playsold-timestring band tunes), the Hobo Gobbelins, the Kitchen Syncopators and the Inkwell Rhythm Makers. The Connecticut-based Jugadelics[14] is an authentic jug band (i.e., employing a jug player) which continues the traditions of the genre as they employ both homemade and traditional instruments while relying on their own original material written by member Shishka Bob. In San Francisco, there's Devine's Jug Band, which is one of the few jug bands today that actually uses a jug blower full-time. And also in the Bay Area, the "Mother of Jug Band Music", Maria Muldaur has formed a new jug band, the Garden of Joy Jug Band, which include members of the Crow Quill Night Owls and the Gallus Brothers. A Canadian group, the Genuine Jug Band, from Vancouver, British Columbia, has most of its original members, who have played together since 1968. In Connecticut, Washboard Slim and the Blue Lights[15] incorporate the blues with the usual ragtime repertoire, as well as original material. The Tennessee-based Jake Leg Stompers continue the traditional Memphis style. The South Austin Jug Band is a young group from Austin, Texas, which plays newer variations on traditional music but does not include a jug player and is not related to the earlier Austin Jug Band which featured vocalists Danny Barton and Galen Barber. The Philadelphia Jug Band has been playing authentic classic jug band music virtually unchanged for over 45 years. The Crow Quill Night Owls from Washington play a mix of 1920s blues, jazz and hillbilly music, which they learned from the 78-rpm records they collect.
A documentary by Todd Kwait about the history and influence of jug band music,Chasin' Gus' Ghost, first screened at the 2007 San Francisco Jug Band Festival. The film features numerous well-known musicians in interviews and performances, including John Sebastian, Jim Kweskin, Geoff Muldaur,David Grisman,Fritz Richmond,Maria Muldaur, andBob Weir of theGrateful Dead, as well as Sankofa Strings, precursor band toThe Carolina Chocolate Drops, andTaj Mahal as the voice ofGus Cannon. Many of these musicians performed at a sold-out concert at the San Francisco Jug Band Festival.Chasin' Gus' Ghost had its film festival premiere in October 2007 at the Woodstock Film Festival.[16] Kwait produced Sankofa Strings' second album,The Uptown Strut, which featuredJohn Sebastian as guest artist.
The annual Battle of the Jug Bands inMinneapolis, Minnesota, has been held since 1980. Over 30 jugbands compete for the "Coveted Hollywood Waffle Iron" trophy, including the Jook Savages, a jugband that predates Kweskin's band and is still together. The competition is held the Sunday after the Super Bowl. The popularity of the event is such that even though it runs all day, there isn't time for all the bands to compete. In recent years a second competition, the Pancake League, has been added, taking place the day before.
The National Jug Band Jubilee was launched inLouisville, Kentucky, the probable birthplace of jug band music, in October 2004.[17]
In California, an annual San Francisco Jug Band Festival has been held inSan Francisco, California almost every August since 2006 and there is a JugFest gathering of jug bands each August inSutter Creek, California since around 1998. Both of these free, outdoor, festivals feature a wide variety of jug bands in an all-day format that gives each band plenty of time to stretch out and play a full set. The 1st Annual West Coast Jug Band Jubilee took place in August 2010 inBerkeley, California.
The Chicago Battle of the Jug Bands has taken place each fall since 2007. Contestants compete for "Stuffy," a gilded sausage-stuffer.[18] The Chicago battle was initiated by Arlo Leach, then a teacher at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. Two years later, when he moved to Portland, Oregon, organizing the battle fell to Skip Landt, another Old Town School teacher. The Chicago competition, which takes place on a single evening, is judged by the audience, who "vote" for the winner on a replica of an official Chicago election ballot.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(August 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The 1990s and 2000s saw another generation of jug band revival, which might be termed postmodern jug band movement. These bands range from traditionalists (covering 1920s and 1930s jazz and blues) to modernists (creating new music from jug band instrumentation and aesthetics).
Scenes of this nature have developed in New York City (centering on the Lower East Side and Red Hook, Brooklyn), Minneapolis, Chicago, Southern California (primarily the Los Angeles area), in the San Francisco Bay area, the Pacific Northwest, and Taipei, Taiwan.
The Muddy Basin Ramblers, based in Taiwan, have composed over forty contemporary jug band songs across five albums since 2002. Three of their albums were nominated for theGrammy Awards for their unique and creative design.[19][20]
The National Jug Band Jubilee in mid-September brings contemporary jug bands from as far as New England and the Northwest toLouisville, Kentucky.[21]
| Musical form | |
|---|---|
| Origins | |
| Regional styles | |
| Subgenres | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Lists | |
