The skiffle craze that preceded the British beat explosion has been well documented by historians. Much less known is the similar jug band music that was all the rage in the south of the US decades earlier, in the 1910s and 1920s to be precise. On improvised instruments such as the washboard, the tea chest and of course the whiskey jug (jug) folk, blues and ragtime were happily mixed up. Jug
… band music is spontaneous, simple and uplifting and in that sense was a forerunner of rock 'n' roll. John Sebastian of The Lovin 'Spoonful wrote an entertaining song about it in the 1960s (Jug Band Music). It is therefore not surprising that Sebastian shows up on this album by his good friend Maria Muldaur, which pays tribute to this almost forgotten genre. Other friends are Taj Mahal, Dan Hicks and David Grisham and it sounds like the music has been performed with dedication and a lot of fun, entirely in the spirit of the genre. (MS)more
