Late last year we introduced you to the Jitterbug Vipers, a quartet from Austin, Texas who are striking in more ways than one. The first is their sound…steeped in what they like to refer to as reefer jive music of the 1930s. That’s not a description you hear very often but then neither do you often see such a combo, which takes me neatly onto their collective appearance:
Slim Richey, a.k.a. “Most Dangerous Guitar Player in Texas”, is now 76 years old, you can’t miss that Santa Claus trademark beard of his. But don’t be fooled by his age, Slim still plays 200 shows per year and he just won the Austin Music award for Best Electric Guitar player. Adding colour to the combo is their bassist Francie Meaux Jeaux with her rainbow-coloured hair alongside Masumi Jones, one of Japan’s finest big band drummers; and finally, the sultry vocals of the lovely Sarah Sharp.
For our Song of the Day (and a exclusive première) Slim and Sarah have recorded a new single in tribute to one of the greatest songwriters around – Willie Nelson. I recently purchased a copy of Willie Nelson’s road journal Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings from the Road and this seems as good a time as any to share a quote from Kinky Friedman who nailed the art of songwriting in one sentence of the book’s forward:
Great art is rarely produced by someone who sits down to paint his masterpiece. The guy who sets out to write the great American novel never does it; the great work is invariably written by the guy who was just trying to pay the rent.
So here are the trippy-swingadelic 1930’s rock band Jitterbug Vipers with an exclusive première and our Song of the Day – Crazy (by Willie Nelson)
Keep up with them here:
http://www.jitterbugvipers.com
https://www.facebook.com/jitterbugvipers