South Austin Jug Band Defies Genre Types
By Tim Anderegg
A&F Associate

The South Austin Jug Band’s website says, “Call the South Austin Jug Band whatever you like: bluegrass or newgrass, acoustic country-folk, Texas Roots unplugged, swinging Lone Star beatnik country, or anything else that strikes you.” This sums up the variety, good-naturedness, and originality of the band quite well.

While definitely rooted in country/Americana music, their particular style of bluegrass is standard only in the kinds of instruments they play: Dennis Ludiker on the fiddle, Matt Slusher on the mandolin, James Hyland on the rhythm guitar, Will Dupuy on the upright bass, and Willie Pipkin on lead guitar without an amp anywhere to be seen. Where’s the jug, you ask? Well, the name actually comes from the muppet movie’ “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas,” apparently, but the band does come from south Austin. They bring in a greater variety of musical influences than the traditional Texas jug band, however, with songs varying from a mandolin-led cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” to blistering fast bluegrass to a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil.”

Of course, their style still contains all the aspects of bluegrass that people love: the extremely danceable rhythms, working-class roots, and an often humorous refusal to take themselves too seriously. They play such songs as “The Ballad of Eddie Mullet,” and”“Ramen Noodle Rag,” the former having lyrics that tackle serious issues in the working man/woman’s life, while at the same time keep a healthy light-hearted perspective. “To look at me, you’d never know,” sings Hyland, “Well I come from a trailer park with meth and tornadoes.”

The South Austin Jug Band’s new album, which is self-titled, is their second actual album and their first recorded in the studio. Their first, entitled “Pickin’ & Grinnin’,” was recorded live at the Austin club Momo’s, at which they had a weekly gig. It featured their original fiddle player, Warren Hood, who left the band to go to the Berklee Conservatory of Music.

The band’s self-titled album was recorded and produced in south Austin, at Cedar Creek Studios. The producer, Lloyd Maines, is well known in Texas, having worked with the likes of the Dixie Chicks and Ray Wylie Hubbard.

More polished and displaying tighter technique, the second album by the Jug Band embodies the environment that they came from: the Austin music scene, which claims to be the live music capital of the country, and the greater Texas tradition. Both play recurring roles in their music, with songs like “Hill Country Nights.” They sing, “Hill country nights, blue collar days, you take the good and the bad / And I wouldn’t trade one of them nights, for all the fun we’ve had.” They go on, maintaining their sense of humor with the line, “I don’t need any damn award to validate my pride,” in reference to their recent award of “best new band” from the Telluride Blue Grass Festival. Like their first album, this one has a healthy dose of traditional songs as well, such as “Long Journey Home,” and “Stealin’”.

Bluegrass is a staple genre of American culture, dating back to the old-times of the Wild West and the desperate days of the 1930s. It’s gained a recent popularity due to a variety of factors, including the successes of bands like the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band, and movies like “O, Brother Where Art Thou?” Texas has always been a frontrunner in this field, of course, and the South Austin Jug Band is an excellent continuation of this tradition of good music.