NATIONAL JUG BAND JUBILEE IN LOUISVILLE
Never listened to a jug band? Bet you didn’t know that Louisville is the world center for jug band music. While bluegrass and country music are more commonly associated with Kentucky, another genre with deep roots in the state is jug band music. Many music historians cite Louisville, where jugs abounded due to the city’s bourbon distilling industry, as the birthplace of this light-hearted musical form that spread up and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers around the turn of the 20th century. The music has come full circle, with the seventh annual National Jug Band Jubilee in Louisville set to celebrate the genre’s origins on Sept. 15, 2012. Nine of the country’s best bands will play from 1-11 p.m. at the free festival at the Brown-Forman Amphitheater in Waterfront Park, on the banks of the Ohio River near downtown Louisville. The acts will include Louisville’s Juggernaut Jug Band and [...]
Rollin’ on the River
June 29, 2005 12:01 AM Once upon a time, Rod Wenz was one of the most respected public relations professionals in the city. He and Randy Neely started Wenz-Neely in 1971, built it into a successful firm without borrowing money, and eventually sold to a British outfit named Shandwick. Things came full circle when former Wenz-Neely employees bought the company back and named it New!West LLC a few years ago. Old PR guys never die, they just find new projects, and for Wenz, who’s retired, the road has led him to a delightful slice of Louisville history that deserves more attention in its hometown. Hence Friday’s inaugural National Jug Band Jubilee, a Belle of Louisville cruise featuring good food and great music from Louisville Juggernaut Jug Band and The Cincinnati Dancing Pigs. While there’s no definitive proof that jug bands started in Louisville, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest it [...]
Good Time Music
FRIDAY, 27 AUGUST 2010 18:45 MICHAEL L. JONES THE HIGHLANDER - FEATURES One hundred years ago, musicians in downtown Louisville traveled from corner to corner playing songs on nontraditional instruments like whisky jugs (“the poor man’s tuba”) and washboards, accompanied by banjos, fiddles and guitars. The sound became known as jug music. On Saturday, September 18, the 6th Annual National Jug Band Jubilee is bringing the music back to its birthplace. “Jug band music is called River Music and now we’re on the river,” says Heather Leoncini, president of the National Jug Band Jubilee. “We love it. This will be our third year in Waterfront Park at the Brown-Foreman Amphitheater. Every year we are attracting more people. There is a huge contingent that comes from out of town for this – as far as California, New Jersey and New York.” Heather Leoncini, president of the National Jug Band Jubilee, leads [...]
That Crazy Jug Band Sound
by MICHAEL L. JONES June 29, 2005 12:01 AM Fiddler Clifford Hayes worked with Earl McDonald extensively, and much of their recorded work is collected on RST Records’ Clifford Hayes and the Louisville Jug Bands. Between the 1890s and the Great Depression, jug band music enjoyed immense popularity along the Ohio and Mississippi River cities. What you may not know is that many believe* this infectious music originated in Louisville, which also produced some of the greatest of the jug bands. Fred Cox, an attorney from Indianapolis, researched the history of the music for a book, but died before its publication*. It was eventually published, in 1994, by Laurie Wright of Chigwell, England. Mr. Wright has been advised of recent efforts to revive Louisville’s jug band tradition through the National Jug Band Jubilee, and has offered that all-volunteer enterprise his best wishes. At the turn of the century, African-American musicians [...]
National Jug Band Jubilee promises the “happiest music on Earth”
Posted: Sep 18, 2014 5:48 AM EDTUpdated: Dec 01, 2014 4:20 AM EST LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Grab your kazoo and string bass! The 2014 National Jug Band Jubilee celebrates the festival's 10th anniversary on Saturday, September 21st. Festival organizers have a lot of treats in store for local music fans. The Jubilee has partnered with the Kentuckiana Blues Society to purchase a headstone for classic blues singer Sara Martin, who was the first vocalist to record with a jug band. The memorial will be unveiled on Friday, September 19th at 3 p.m. Sara Martin is buried in Louisville Cemetery, 1339 Poplar Level Road, near Eastern Parkway. The Jake Leg Stompers will be at the ceremony to perform a few of Martin's blues classics. Maria Muldaur and her Garden of Joy Jug Band will headline the 2014 National Jug Band Jubilee on Saturday, September 20th. The free festival goes from Noon to [...]