Hot Shooters
Artichoke
(self)

It's like entering a time period that's not just past, but happier. The swing sounds of the 1930s and '40s are brought to new life by this sprightly Argentinian quartet. With clarinet, washboard, double bass, and tenor guitar -- plus urbane harmonies that wash fitting gloss across the economical whole, and comical onstage antics  -- they inspire thoughts of the Hoosier Hot Shots. 

And who else does that, today?


Recommended: "Artichoke," "Istanbul," "Coney Island Washboard," "Walkin' My Baby Back Home," "12th Street Rag," "Hit That Jive, Jack"

Video: "Artichoke" (backstage)
            "She Broke My Heart In Three Places" (non-CD Hoosier Hot Shots cover)


https://www.facebook.com/hot.shooters/

https://www.instagram.com/hot.shooters/?fbclid=IwAR1A2tRvkXPm45_fC9sI2aYpP_Irr7e3Kr0TZggu8QVRz0exOibIJ8dPmqA

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/hotshooters4#



https://www.amazon.com/Artichoke-Hot-Shooters/dp/B07R7JVG1L/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Hot+Shooters&qid=1556852326&s=dmusic&search-type=ss&sr=1-3

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/artichoke-single/1459131949

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2ysnOJKYkI0bYls02QOAAr

Coop and the Chicken Pluckers
Pluck You (self)

Coop and the Chicken Pluckers were tearing it up, under the lights.

"BR5-49!" One guy pounded the bar.

"Big Sandy!" His friend insisted. 

They turned to the bouffant barmaid.

"Who do these guys remind you of?"

She was bobbing her head and drumming her fingers. She scanned the packed dance floor. Everybody was movin'.

"I think you both got ahold of somethin'." She drew another mug. "But they got their own thing goin' on, too."


Recommended: "Gimme Your Love," "Steppin' Over You,"  "I'm Ready," "Synthetically Sane," "Every Dog Has Its Day"

Video: "Gimme Your Love"


https://www.coopandthechickenpluckers.com/home

https://www.facebook.com/Coop-the-Chicken-Pluckers-190629684308563/

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/coopandthechickenpluckers#


https://www.amazon.com/Pluck-Explicit-Coop-Chicken-Pluckers/dp/B07RB12LLM/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=Plucker&qid=1556919966&s=dmusic&sr=1-4

The Retrobaits
All Systems Go
(Western Star)

Familiarity is inherent in vintage-styled music. It certainly doesn't count against representative works. What makes the exercise attention-worthy is the amount of personality and spark that lend animation. Here's an illustrative example.

Recommended: "All Systems Go," "Hey, Hey, Hayley," "Heartache Comin' Your Way," "She's My Little Girl," "Hey, Mr. Bottle,"  "I Just Know"

Video: "All Systems Go" (Bopflix)


https://www.facebook.com/TheRetrobaits/


https://western-star.tmstor.es/cart/product.php?id=42293&fbclid=IwAR3NCkWZHWj3rL0qlKfr67d_ExqM60STFfQx5aK7TZofe43_44sEzjxtQes


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q6P39VH

https://open.spotify.com/album/1aDnne3XcUX5Q0iF2XsmPO

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-systems-go/1457046206

Big Chimney Barn Dance
Whoa Mule, Get Up In the Alley
(self)

In the 1940s, my wife's grandfather left the coal mines of Virginia to work for the Chicago Western Railroad's Iowa branch. He was part of southern blacks' Great Migration to midwest states. Unbeknownst to them, railroad bosses had lured them to replace striking white workers. 

He played banjo, guitar, and fiddle. My wife recalls he played on the porch, after supper, and she and her siblings danced to the old-timey string music.

This fine-in-all-manners rendering of common folks' Americana also made her dance. 


Recommended: "Sittin' On Top of the World," "Red Mountain Wine," "Swamp Cat Rag," "Skipping and Flying," "Hunting the Buffalo," "Lonesome John," "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," "The Golden Ticket," "I Don't Care," "Katy Did," "Chattanooga"

Video: "Skipping and Flying" (live in studio)
            "Hunting the Buffalo" (live in studio)


https://www.bigchimneybarndance.com/

https://www.facebook.com/BigChimneyBarnDance/

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/bigchimneybarndance#



https://www.amazon.com/Whoa-Mule-Get-up-Alley/dp/B07PJW5V5S/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Big+Chimney+Barn+Dance&qid=1556682759&s=music&sr=8-1

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/whoa-mule-get-up-in-the-alley/1455760148

Miss Lily Moe
Wine Is Fine
(Rhythm Bomb)

Many recall the jumped-up country that came out of Sam Phillips's Sun Studios. And there was much to learn from and affectionately replicate. It deserves emulation.

But Miss Lily Moe finds inspiration elsewhere. Roomy, decisive rhythm and blues of the sort that was in the 1950s put to vinyl by Syd Nathan, Leonard and Phil Chess, Ahmet Ertegun, and innumerable others who helped forge modern American music. 

It's an old sound, yes. But one yet drawing breath. And, in these grooves, with authoritative vibrancy.


Recommended: "Rockin' On Saturday Night," "Daddy, You Can't Come Back," "Baby's Gonna Rock and Roll," "Mama's Out To Have a Ball" "Roll On," "Sammy the Rabbit"

Video: "Rockin' On Saturday Night"


https://www.facebook.com/misslilymoe/

http://misslilymoe.com/

http://www.rhythmbomb.com/miss-lily-moe-wine-is-fine-2/


https://www.amazon.com/Wine-Fine-Miss-Lily-Moe/dp/B07F3CN911

https://open.spotify.com/album/70fBHn7OASwnrVKb7Z3CTD

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/wine-is-fine/1405511646

https://www.reverbnation.com/misslilymoe/album/208448-wine-is-fine

https://www.deezer.com/en/album/67067852

Mad Man Mike and the Rhythm Devils
s/t (Katzen Music)

Beloved standards, charged anew by palpable faith and instrumental knack of double-take nature. 

Recommended: "Moonlight Ride," "Blue Jean Bop," "Cut Across Shorty," "Uranium Rock," "Just Because," "Hallelujah, I Just Love Her So," "One Sweet Letter," "Standing On a Rock"

Videos:  CD promo 
              "Cut Across Shorty"


http://www.mike-rhythm-devils.de/

http://www.mike-rhythm-devils.de/cd-shop.html

https://www.facebook.com/mikeandtherhythmdevils/


https://www.bear-family.com/mad-man-mike-and-the-rhythm-devils-mad-man-mike-and-the-rhythm-devils-cd.html

Mark Holzinger 
(feat. Simon Planting and John Waller)
Take Off Guitar!
(Mark Holzinger / Reel Zinger Records)

Jazz strings and their artful confederates stroll through magnificent landscapes, esteem their due. 

Top drawer talents joining Holzinger, Planting, and Waller, in various configurations, include Jeff Sanford, Terry Rodriguez, Conrad Diesler, Bobby Black, Jim Hurley, Jason Bellenkes, and Olan Dillingham.

Recommended: "Jammin' With Jimmy," "Caravan," "Seven Come Eleven," "Avalon," "Cherokee," "Why Oh Why," "Moonlight In Vermont," "Hot 'n' Bothered"

Video: "Caravan" (live)
           "Seven Come Eleven" (live, M. Holzinger and S. Planting)


https://www.facebook.com/mark.holzinger.5

https://www.facebook.com/simon.planting.7

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/markholzinger



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q4VQCQM/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp

https://open.spotify.com/album/4V91KMjkwiVwGaBQTMa8ks

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/take-off-guitar-feat-simon-planting-john-waller/1459420480

Mark Holzinger and Simon Planting