2.23.25 Battle of the Jug Bands at The Cabooze
18 bands performed in the competition's 45th year.
For a $5 suggested donation I got to see 10 of the 18 jug bands play, and was thoroughly entertained throughout my three and a half hours at the ‘Boozer. Classic jug band tunes such as Rawhide, King of the Road, Gimme Some Lovin’, Seven Nation Army, Paint It Black, and Ring Of Fire were all approached with a with a jug sensibility.
The event definitely had a DIY ethic to it, with many of the bands rocking homemade instruments including an upright bass made from a suitcase and an ironing board fashioned into a pedal steel guitar. As many as a baker’s dozen people were on stage at a time, playing a motley assortment of old timey instruments: a shovel, a hacksaw, washboards, accordions, kazoos, horns, violins, 5 gallon pails, and jugs aplenty.
This woman offered a brief Black History Month lesson about jug bands as poor people's music that originated in the south in the late 1800’s. Jug bands obviously have a long and rich history in the US, and lad the groundwork for the blues, jazz, and rock and roll that would follow decades later. Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan played in Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions in San Francisco in the 60’s before forming the Warlocks who would of course change their name to the Grateful Dead.
Seven Nation Army performed by 3 Best Samaritans was a crowd favorite:
Amanda Standalone mentioned that she's played this thing for 24 years straight:
Paint It Black:
The Cabooze has been serving live music since 1974, as the mural on the patio will tell you, and has a couple dozen framed pictures of people who’ve played there. Imagine seeing Albert King, Sam and Dave, or The White Iron Band there!? Well ok I’ve seen the WIB play there a good couple dozen foot stomping times.
Anyway, the winner of this year’s Jug Band Competition was The Sloppy Joe Jug Band Revival outta Steven’s Point, WI. (Don’t those damn cheeseheads have their own jug band competition in their sad, red state?) j/k I love Wisco. Though I was not present for the winners’ 1:30pm set, I did notice the two young women from that band walking around later with faces painted a la ICP Juggalos. Nice touch.
See ya next year.