Oh sure, you'd suppose a band from Texas that features two nationally recognized fiddle players and calls itself a "jug band" would find its musical influences from among the bluegrass elite. But you'd be way off if you thought that of the South Austin Jug Band, who aren't really into Flatt & Scruggs or Bill Monroe as much as they're into Stevie Wonder, Todd Snider, Nine Inch Nails and Beck (their third album, Strange Invitation, took its name from a line in a Beck song that they cover). The contradictions continue, because the trio — a three-time winner of the Austin Chronicle's Best Bluegrass Band award that more often draws comparisons to Jack Johnson, the Grateful Dead and Dylan-meets-Union Station — has never included a jug player. Instead, their name comes from a 1977 Jim Henson TV special called "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas."
The South Austin Jug Band was a natural progression for singer/songwriter James Hyland, who was playing easy-going rock and roll around Austin at the turn of the century. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native was raised in Corpus Christi and took up guitar while at Austin's University of Texas. When Hyland hooked up with two guys who had grown up together on the national fiddle competition circuit — Dennis Ludiker (fiddle, mandolin, guitar) of Spokane, Washington, and Brian Beken (fiddle, guitar, percussion, keys, mandolin, vocals) of Montgomery, Texas — the South Austin Jug Band was created.
These days, "newgrass" and "progressive acoustic" are appropriate designations of the direction of their groove — Hyland aptly describes Strange Invitation as "Beck and Wilco at a David Grisman party."
Provenance: Austin, Texas
Latest Release: Strange Invitation (2008)
© 2008 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
South Austin Jug Band
