For those of you that love the sound of pre-war roots blues and ragtime jazz you will love Rambling Rob Young, Dan ‘Popeye’ Lever and Daniel ‘Doc’ Owens, who together make up The Two Hats Blues Band from Bolton.
Yesterday saw the release of their irresistible debut single ‘Death Rag’ which hooked us on first listen. A delectable combination of catchy riffs and smooth as butter vocals, you will be hitting replay as soon as those final notes fade. We have the honour of premiering the accompanying video.
In their own words…
“big mans gonna come with his scythe, he’s gonna swing for your legs, he’s gonna take your life”
Death Rag takes a slightly eccentric, yet unflinching look at our own mortality. Firmly rooted in the late 1920’s ragtime genre, this eerie, poignant ditty offers up some sweet advice – appreciate life, and don’t depart with your best songs still in you….After all its a bit late after the fact eh!
The concept of the Two Hats Blues Band came to Rambling Rob in a vision.
Lying in that hospital in Rovaniemi, he had seen it all – a blues band like no other; combining slide fingerpicking guitar mastery with porch stomping foot percussion, wailing blues harp and thumping double bass.
Three of them, howling in harmony, swirling echoes of country, bluegrass, gospel and R & B, creating an evocative vocal sound all of their own.
Using old, primitive tools from an era before electricity took hold, channelling everything that came from the blues, back into the blues.
From the Mississippi to the Irwell, strange currents and tides flow through these songs. Feelings of euphoria and desolation, soaking and reviving dusty old ideas, making them shimmer in the sunshine stolen from other lands, other times.
Death Rag – The Two Hats Blues Bands debut single available on iTunes/Spotify/Bandcamp
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