Check These Groups Out

I got turned on to some new acts at Kentucky Music Weekend and just wanted to pass on the love:




SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION
www.spontane.net/

Holy Cow, these guys are good. You have GOT to hear their bluegrass rendition of "Eine Kliene Nacht Musik" - un-frickin-believable.



JUGGERNAUT JUG BAND
www.juggernautjugband.com

Likewise, I'll say it again, Holy Cow, these guys are good. A double bill of this pedigree would pin you to the back wall of the theater.


ZOE SPEAKS

www.zoespeaks.com/

They're sort of like rock stars in the folk scene and I can see why. Their show was amazing, uplifting, powerful and tuneful in ways that mainstream music could take a lesson from.


PETER "MADCAT" RUTH

www.madcatmusic.net/

Just this guy, a harmonica, a ukelele and a foot-powered cymbal. The audience didn't know what hit them, and neither did I. Phenomenal performer with more soul than a gospel choir.


WISHING CHAIR


www.wishingchair.com

My personal favorite new discovery - I just love these girls. They're edgy, they're mongo-talented, they freakin' rock.


KENTUCKY STANDARD BAND


www.southwinddulcimer.com/_kystandard.html

It was my first time seeing Nancy Barker's band, and it was actually not quite the band, but a hodgepodge of different folks sitting in. (Anne McFie, Christie Burns and Butch Ross, etc.) Still, it was the first time that I'd been exposed to the music, and I fell in love with "The Cowboy Song" as well as "Maybelline."

And I saw some of my favorites again, like Tom and Missy Strothers, Dave Para and Cathy Barton, Butch and Christie, whom I adore, Anne, Molly McCormack. There was also this killer bluegrass band made up of teens called Kentucky Sassafras that left everyone's jaws on the floor. It was an incredible couple of days of music, that's for sure.

Got to skip off to a meeting, but check out those links and the music at the other ends of them. It's stuff like this that needs to be on the radio - not the crap that's currently residing on the airwaves.