Nice Jug Bands

A jug. A washboard. A kazoo. A washtub bass. A musical saw. A can covered with bicycle horns, duck calls and a slide whistle. Put those unlikely instruments in the hands of talented musicians and you’ve got one of America’s happiest musical traditions. The jug band.

From Thursday, August 6 through Sunday, August 9, downtown Santa Cruz will celebrate the Second Annual Santa Cruz Jug Band Festival; a free, four-day celebration featuring concerts, sing-alongs, a musical history presentation, and five outstanding Northern California jug bands.

“Jug band music is a traditional American music,” says Trolley Drops guitarist and mandolin player Greg Meyer. Greg explains that the music grew out of Memphis and Louisville during the early twentieth century, blending blues, early jazz, gospel and country into an irresistible, booty-bumping style.

Professional jug bands often mix homemade instruments with trumpets,trombones, clarinets, banjos and guitars, creating a sound that is equal parts street party and dance hall. The genre flourished through the 1920s and ‘30s before fading after World War II, only to enjoy a revival during the folk boom of the 1960s. Meyer points to bands like the Lovin’ Spoonful as evidence of jug band music’s resurgence.

So why does this quirky music make audiences grin so wide? Part of the appeal lies in the music’s roots in ragtime and jazz. Another part comes from the lyrics, which often celebrate life’s absurdities with a generous helping of double entendre – “I need a hot dog for my roll.” When kids are present, they go “triple entendre” to make it family friendly.

Peter Thomas, who plays an invention he calls the “canzoo,” says the songs weren’t written to impress audiences with technical virtuosity. “These are party songs,” he says. “They’ve got hooks. They’ve got sing-alongs. They want people to enjoy themselves.” Thomas’s homemade canzoo perfectly captures the wacky spirit of jug band music. Inspired by the decorated washboards used by early musicians, his instrument combines a kazoo with bicycle bells, horns, duck calls and a slide whistle into what he cheerfully describes as “a noise maker.”

For Thomas, that’s part of the point. Jug band music has always celebrated creativity over perfection. If you don’t own a concert-quality instrument, make one. If you can keep a beat on a washboard or blow bass notes through a stoneware jug, you’re halfway into the band.

The festival itself has grown from equally humble beginnings. Last year it occupied a single day at Abbott Square. This year it has expanded into four days of performances spread across downtown Santa Cruz, thanks to the enthusiasm of local musicians and venues eager to celebrate an often-overlooked American musical tradition.

Festivities begin Thursday evening 5:45pm at Pono Grill with the Trolley Drops’ Jug Band Singalong, everyone is invited to join in with the lyrics projected onto the wall. Friday 6:00pm features “The Wild & Wacky History of Jug Band Music” at the Museum of Art & History, followed by music with The Puffball Collective, at Abbott Square 7:00pm, that traces jug band influences from Prohibition-era America to psychedelic rock.

Saturday brings the festival’s centerpiece, with five bands performing throughout the afternoon and evening at Abbott Square, 12-9pm: The Rivertown Skifflers, The Quake City Jug Band, The Paradise Park Jug Band, The Trolley Drops and The Washboard Rhythm Company.

The celebration wraps Sunday afternoon 2-5pm, with a relaxed Jug Band Happy Hour at Shanty Shack where musicians from the various bands will mix, match and jam together.

For Meyer, the festival is about more than preserving a musical curiosity. “I think one of the reasons to do it in Santa Cruz is it reminds the community about the depth and breadth of the artistic community here,” he says. “Our community is full of people doing interesting things.” Perhaps that’s why jug band music feels so at home in Santa Cruz. It’s inventive without being pretentious, deeply rooted in American musical history while remaining wonderfully goofy. It’s music that encourages you to sing along, laugh at life’s foibles and maybe wonder whether that old washboard in the garage might give you a shot at joining a band.

Come on, there’s two things in life we all want – to be part of a heist and to join a band. The Second Annual Santa Cruz Jug Band Festival might be a door for you. It will definitely be a hoot and a hollar. It’s traditional America, and it’s quintessential Santa Cruz.

More information at trolleydrops.com/festival