To buy or preview our debut CD "Crooked Songs: Live At Caffe Lena"
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Stompin' down at the laundromat for Chronogram Magazine!

October '08 - Ramblin Jug Stompers and The Quarrymen relax after havin' a jam!

RJS NEWS BULLETINS

5/25/2009
NEW WEB SITE LAUNCHED BY WILD BILL AND SARA AYERS

That's right, the Stompers' own Wild Bill, a.k.a. Greg Haymes, is now online with Nippertown, a Web site that features music news, music reviews, book reviews, intriguing photos, and much more! Quoting from the site:

"Nippertown is an online magazine based in the greater Capital Region and Hudson Valley regions of New York and western Massachusetts. We write about art, music and anything else that interests us."

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1/10/2009
ON-LINE RADIO SHOW

Happy New Year from Ramblin Jug Stompers

Ramblin Jug Stompers (RJS) is the Artist of the Week on CRUMBS ("Capital Region Unofficial Musicians and Bands Site") Radio! Hear RJS on CRUMBS Café chatting with hosts Mike and Billy and playing a few tunes as well, during their half-hour show.

CRUMBS Café is a radio show where musicians stop by the CRUMBS studio for an interview and perform some of their music.

Listen to the Jug Stompers on CRUMBS Café -streaming audio directly to your computer! -click to stream the Stompers from Internet Radio-

Or download the RJS show from the CRUMBS site: « cafe055.mp3 (27 mb) »

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11/10/2008
RAMBLIN JUG STOMPERS MEET THE QUARRYMEN!

It was a trans-Atlantic summit meeting between jug band and skiffle band on Tuesday October the 14th, at the world renowned Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. In the midst of their current American tour, The Quarrymen dropped by to see Ramblin Jug Stompers fire up the crowd with their original songs "Fry Pan Jack Enters Into Heaven" and "Hobo Nickel", as well as a batch of classic American jug band favorites that included "Mornin Blues", "San Francisco Bay Blues", "Overseas Stomp" -and, naturally enough, "Jug Band Music".

For those in need of a rock 'n' roll history lesson, The Quarrymen were John Lennon's first band back in the late 50's in Liverpool, the band that eventually transformed into The Beatles with the addition of Paul McCartney and George Harrison. (You can hear a couple of Quarrymen recordings on The Beatles' "Anthology I" CD compilation). Today, three of the original Quarrymen bandmembers -Len Garry, Rod Davis, and Colin Hanton -continue to play traditional skiffle music as they tour the world.

The Liverpudlians were quite impressed by Ramblin Jug Stompers's music, and after a round of hearty congratulations, the two bands joined forces for a surprise encore in the theater's lobby - a rousing all-star rendition of "The Midnight Special". The Quarrymen played their own concert later that same evening at The Arts Center of the Capital Region, just two blocks from the Music Hall in downtown Troy, NY. Needless to say, more skiffle-meets-jug band jamming ensued. "We sure had a lot of fun at lunchtime with the Ramblin Jug Stompers", guitarist Rod Davis told the crowd.

Soon, The Quarrymen invited Wild Bill up onstage to play some washboard with them during the show, and they were plenty surprised when he pulled out his own set of thimbles. Rod stepped up to the microphone and launched into Lonnie Donegan's skiffle-blues fave "In the Evening", fueled by Wild Bill's scintillating scraping.

But the musical highlight of the night was yet to come -Cousin Clyde also joined the band for a joyous rendition of the old gospel rave-up "Down by the Riverside", making his public performance debut on washboard!

From the British Isles to the aisles of the Music Hall and the Arts Center, a good time was had by all.

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10/24/2008
JUGBAND JIGSAW -WANNA PLAY?

Ramblin Jug Stompers (RJS) are now featured in their first online game...
-a musical jigsaw puzzle! Free fun -learn the "hobo signs" -tho' you'll need Flash to play.
Get ready to point at a puzzle piece, hold down the mouse button, and drag the piece into position. Now click here to play Jug Band Jigsaw!

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9/2/2008
NATION-WIDE!

Ramblin Jug Stompers celebrate the national release, on CD, of their recording of
"Way Down The Old Plank Road"!  The track is featured on "Jugs Across America" -a brand new jug band compilation that includes the likes of jug band legends Jim Kweskin and Fritz Richmond, to name a few!

Available now on Whiskey For Breakfast Records - CD Baby.

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5/4/2008
WHAT DO MAY FLOWERS BRING?

Ramblin Jug Stompers will be sitting in with Jug Band legend Geoff Muldaur at Caffe Lena on Friday, May 9th! Geoff Muldaur was, of course, the soul of the legendary Jim Kweskin Jug Band and is a legend in his own right.

So... if April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?
Pilgrims. Get it? Mayflowers?

And as for RJS, May also brings a month deep in the recording studio, so if ya wanna see us in concert this month –and, of course, we know you do -you’d better mark your calendars right now for Monday, May 19. Yes, our monthly 'third Monday of the Month' jamboree at Tess’ Lark Tavern in Albany is one of the 'official' RJS gigs on the May calendar. As usual, things get underway at 7:00PM, admission is free, and there will surely be several special guests sitting in with us.

Our 'unofficial' alter-egos, the "Stompin Jug Ramblers" –that’s the Ramblin Jug Stompers minus one -will be making a return to the stage, too, for a couple of birthday celebrations. You can catch us at the Albany International Airport Gallery’s grand opening reception for 'Locally Grown', the new exhibit marking the gallery’s 10th anniversary. Admission is free, and you’ll also get to see the work of 22 of the Capital Region’s finest artists, including RJS fan Michael Oatman. The date is Friday, May 16, and we’ll probably begin playing at about 7:00PM.

In addition, the "Stompin Jug Ramblers" will be playing some of our fave Bob Dylan songs at the 10th Annual Bob Dylan Birthday Festival at Union College’s Old Chapel in Schenectady on Thursday, May 22, along with a big batch of our favorite Capital Region musicians like The McKrells, Jim Gaudet and The Railroad Boys, Bryan Thomas, Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned, and MotherJudge, just to name a few. The official showtime is 7:00PM, although the outdoor barbecue with music by The McKrells starts at 4 p.m. There will, of course, be much inter-band interactivity (ie, jamming), and of course the whole shebang will be co-hosted by Mr. Eck and RJS Jughead Dale Metzger. Suggested donation at the door is $5, which goes to the Chris Ryan Scholarship Fund.

A new CD!?! Well, actually, it’s not our new CD, but we’re pleased as punch to be part of Terri Roben’s excellent new album, "The Path We Make". We back her up on three songs: Terri’s original tunes "Shiny Brand New" and "Teaching Recovery", and Terri’s jaunty little cover of Holly Near’s "Santa Monica Pier". We had a great time recording with her over at Bender Studio last year, but we had even more fun playing the tunes with her in concert at her CD release party at Caffe Lena.

Meanwhile, things are going quite splendidly with our own recording sessions over at Bender Studio -we’ll be back in the studio for at least five days in May, so we hope to make some serious progress. (Well, OK, not exactly 'serious' progress -we are a jug band, after all -but progress nonetheless).

On a somewhat tangential note, both Wild Bill and Mr. Eck re-united with RJS alum Ryder Cooley for an exhibit of their artwork at the BRIK Gallery (473 Main St., Catskill, NY) from May 3-19. The "Recent Works" exhibit also features some fabulous art by our pals Dennis Herbert, G.G. Roberts, and Dana Rudolph. The gallery is open from noon-5 p.m. on weekends.

And Mr. Eck also has a whole bunch of roots and country music portraits on exhibit in the lobby of the Capital Repertory Theater during the run of "Hank Williams: Lost Highway", which continues through May 17. Come on down and check out the production, which features RJS pal David Malachowski as guitarist, musical director and -gasp -actor, too. And if you happen to attend a Friday night show, be prepared to stick around after the show for a little musical jam session with the cast and special guests. Ramblin Jug Stompers joined in on the first one and had a blast pickin’ with the band, the cast, and special guest accordionist Professor Louie of Professor Louie and the Crowmatix (the Professor also produced several albums for The Band!).

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