None of us expected it. We were just getting together to work on a few tunes for my new recording. Craig Lagerman, (who you may know from his work with Julie Major - Miss Major and Her Minor Mood Swings, the Julie Major Trio and with Rex Hobart and many other roots, country-swing and R and B units over time) and I had been working on a set of tunes but had taken a break for a bit. Michael Turnbo, who I first saw in Foes of Folly (an extremely eclectic local original band) a couple years back has been playing with everybody all over town since - if you have been out of the house (or went to a wedding recently) chances are you saw Michael. The three of us did a few recordings and it was a lot of music already (a few are posted on this site). Then I approached JJ Cantrell (the lead guitarist for local funk/dance heroes The Phantastics) to play on a few tunes - he asked “banjo or guitar”? Who knew banjo was his first instrument. I guess Julian Davis knew - JJ played with Julian recently when he opened for a big-name or two at Knuckleheads. What would a rockabilly bass player, a funk guitar player who also played the banjo and a lyrical wedding violinist sound like playing songs written by a finger-style guitarist and romantic poet?
The very first time the four of us got together for dinner and a rehearsal, playing the same tunes I had played with each of them individually, a magical thing happened - a completeness these tunes had never had before. JJ and Michael were arranging on the fly and creating a positively orchestral effect. Craig and JJ laying down the kind of rhythmic cross-roughs that you might imagine would be possible when you blend rockabilly country-swing and funk. The songs that Joe Casad and I have written, particularly those from the last couple years were made into fierce, up-tempo rocking and swinging things.
I used to call my music "rockabilly-swing" even though it's neither really - and it mostly gets tossed under the huge "folk" or "roots" tent. I guess its just that funk, rockabilly, jump-blues and swing are some of my favorite kinds of music. It could be cool to hear the Fleck-tones play Blasters covers. I think the tunes Joe and I write sound more like show-tunes really - all the more with this newly formed pit-orchestra, but you may hear a bit of "New-Grass" in it.
If you have a chance, come out and see this four-piece at Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club on Thursday August 10th, 2017. This is our first public outing. I think you will be glad you did.
If you want to see the magic we made on the first night we were together, the following video gives you a glimpse. The audio is not great, but I think the magic comes through. This is actually the first time we were all in the same room.