2022 Artists
Jontavious Willis:
Slick Skillet Serenaders
(New Orleans, LA)
The Slick Skillet Serenaders are a New Orleans based 20’s and 30’s Era, Ragtime, Blues, Western Swing, Jazz Band, with a touch of vaudeville jokes and antics. They’ve been a nationally Touring band since 2011, and have been through many places and phases since then. They’ve traveled, busked and played shows in all 50 states. Over the years their love for the music stays the same as well as their dedication to putting on a great show. As a substitute for boredom there is no equal.
M.S.G. Acoustic Blues Trio
(Brooklyn, NY)
M.S.G. Acoustic Blues Trio performs traditional Piedmont blues. Their style of music has been influenced by the likes of Archie Edwards, Etta Baker, and Cephas & Wiggins. This band can raise the roof with some old-fashioned house party tunes, make you laugh with their witty originals and then make you weep with blues ballads! M.S.G. Acoustic Blues Trio features Jackie Merritt(harmonica, guitar, bass, uke and bones), Miles Spicer (guitar & vocals) and Resa Gibbs (lead vocalist and percussion).
Juggernaut Jug Band
(Louisville, KY)
The Juggernaut Jug Band is celebrating 50 years of continuous entertainment from the birthplace of jug band music, Louisville, Kentucky.
What do you get when you blend jazz, blues, and ragtime with washboards, washtubs, kazoos, jugs and various other sundry hardware? Nothing less than a strange concoction called the Juggernaut Jug Band. Based out of Louisville, Kentucky, the Juggernauts have proudly kept early twentieth century jug music alive and well since 1965, when four high school lads discovered jug band music made them feel just fine!
Ever-Lovin Jug Band
(Waterloo, Ontario)
Hailing from Waterloo, Ontario, this duo is great fun! Featuring Minnie Heart playing fiddle/banjolin/kazoo and an unusual foot-bass, while Bill Howard plays guitar and jug. The Ever-Lovin’ Jug Band plays original music inspired by the jug bands of the 1920s & 30s, plus many songs and instrumentals by the Memphis Jug Band, the Mississippi Sheiks, Harry Choates, and more.
Cincinnati Dancing Pigs
(Cincinnati, OH)
The Cincinnati Dancing Pigs are Cincinnati’s premier Jug Band. They have been around since the early years of the Rolling Stones, have lasted longer than the Beatles and have more living members than the Grateful Dead. In the Cincinnati Enquirer they were once compared to the Julliard String Quartet, although not favorably. They have played at every Tall Stacks, at the Cincinnati Bicentennial Celebration, for the runners in the Flying Pig Marathon, many times in the summer concert series at the amphitheater in Eden Park, for the Art Museum, for a sit down dinner on the observation deck of the Carew Tower, and in many bars, back yards and living rooms throughout the area. From country club weddings to pig roasts to 4th of July parties, they have shamelessly wound up audiences at every variety of event.
Busted Jug Band
Played by men in top hats and derbies, the Busted Jug Band’s music is a festive romp through time featuring group vocals, swinging rhythms and novel instrumentation. Inspired by the street bands of the early 20th Century, the group features kazoos, washboard, mandolin, banjo-uke, washtub bass, harmonica, accordion, jug, rhythm bones, National guitar, slide whistle and bicycle horns. The group plays music of the classic black Jug Bands and String Bands of Memphis and Mississippi, and small Swing Bands and vocal groups of New Orleans and the Urban North.
How Long Jug Band
(Portland, Oregon)
The How Long Jug Band is based in Portland, Oregon and plays vintage blues, jazz and ragtime music on standard and homemade instruments. The How Long Jug Band features Jug Band Hall of Fame member Arlo Leach on guitar, kazoo and jug, Giued Hatch on washboard, trashcan bass and ukulele, Steve Hassett on harmonica, banjo, washtub bass and sometimes turkey baster, and Peter “Spud” Siegel on mandolin.