East River String Band – Robert Crumb on Mandolin – Blues and Jugband Music

Yesterday I have listened to another program of the Antique Gramophone Music Program with Mac – a program with a live band.

Actually the East River String Band was represented by its two leaders Eden Brower and John Heneghan. This duet is regularly enlarged by several other musicians for concerts.

Eden & John’s East River String Band

Here is the information from the homepage of the East River String Band with the most important information:

Drawing from the vast spectrum of traditional American country blues music, Eden & John’s East River String Band create some of the most authentic sounding renditions of songs from the 1920’s and early 30’s. Focusing on both well known, and lesser known country blues and some popular music of this era, their love and deep reverence for this music shines through in every song. Founded in 2006 the New York City based duo have released three albums and toured the US Canada and Europe. The group’s two leader’s are Eden Brower(vocals, ukulele, guitar), and John Heneghan(vocals, guitar, mandolin).

They often have additional musicians join the group such as underground comic / old-time music legend Robert Crumb, stride pianist Terry Waldo(Leon Redbone/ Woody Allen), multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons (The Carolina Chocolate Drops), Pat Conte (The Otis Brothers, The Secret Museum Of Mankind), Robert Armstrong (The Cheap Suit Serenaders), Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton and Eli Smith (Down Home Radio Live, The Dust Busters).

Their last two releases “Drunken Barrel House Blues” and “Some Cold Rainy Day” both feature classic artwork by R. Crumb. “Some Cold Rainy Day” was chosen as one of David Fricke’s picks of the month of November, 2008 in Rolling Stone Magazine. Fricke writes, “Eden & John’s East River String Band cover black country blues from the 78-rpm era with crisp fervor and a natural flair that suggests loving study and a respect for the hard lives and flight for joy on the original records”.

Eden Brower mostly plays a National resonator ukulele, and John Heneghan loves his old Kay guitar.

Robert Crumb – the famous artist known especially for his comics – has made the CD covers and posters for East River String Band – some examples can be found on the following page:

http://www.eastriverstringband.com/id11.html

The lastest CD by the East River String Band will be published in March 2011.

This is the link to the Antique Phonograph Music Program – the East River String Band – Eden Bower and John Heneghan were the special guest on Dec. 14th 2011: