Ramblin Jug Stompers entertain and amuse crowd in Lake George

A banjo, a train whistle, a tin can and a hat – what do these things all have in common? In the capable hands of the four-man string band Ramblin Jug Stompers these items are all instruments for creating music. Throw in a couple kazoos and anyone listening cannot help but smile.

Wild Bill, Bowtie, Cousin Clyde and Mr. Eck are the extraordinary musicians that performed Wednesday night, August 15, in Shepard Park to a captivated audience. The concert was one in the series of free concerts sponsored by the Lake George Arts Project.

Each member of the Ramblin Jug Stompers brings to the group a long resume of solo performances and tours with well-known Capital District bands. Wild Bill, Cousin Clyde and Bowtie are not new to Lake George; as the Star-Spangled Washboard Band they played Gaslight Village in the ‘70s – six days a week, four gigs a day, “and we were paid $100 a man … wish we could make that much now.”

The band announced, with some mock sadness, that this may be their last performance at a small venue as they would be premiering, for the Lake George audience, a new sound. once released to airwaves, they claim, this creation would catapult them to superstardom and it would be dangerous to perform at locations such as Shepard Park, with stampeding and all. Perhaps the only location that could hold the crowds they will draw is the planet Jupiter.

This new style of music, a “magic melding of two musical styles”, combines their traditional Appalachian music with Caribbean calypso to produce “Appalypso”.  The Jug Stompers then launched into a version of “Down in the Boon Docks” which did indeed add a distinctive calypso rhythm their string-picking music.

The Ramblin Jug Stompers’ next performance is Monday evening, August 20, at McGeary’s Pub in Albany. The Lake George Arts Project concert series continues next Wednesday, August 22, with the dance band Brave Combo taking the stage in Shepard Park at 7:30 p.m.