Roots n Ruckus!

[The Dust Busters at the Jalopy Theater.  Sketch by Robin Hoffman.]

Hey everybody,

   Come check out Roots n Ruckus this Wednesday, the awesome weekly folk music show at the Jalopy Theater in Redhook, Brooklyn- we'll be playing at 11pm! No cover!

The Jalopy Theater
315 Columbia Street
NY 11231
(718) 395-3214
www.Jalopy.biz

Opening for Patti Smith at the Bowery Ballroom- Dec. 29th & 30th!

The Dust Busters will be opening for poet-singer Patti Smith for 2 shows- Wednesday Dec. 29th and Thursday Dec. 30th at The Bowery Ballroom.  Gonna be fun!  We're big Patti Smith fans and its a big honor to be able to open for her 2 nights of her legendary Bowery Ballroom end of the year shows!



The Bowery Ballroom is located at:

6 Delancey Street corner of Bowery
New York, NY 10002-2804
(212) 533-2111

Prohibition is a Failure - Dec. 12th CD Release Show!

 Hello everybody-

  Our brand new EP, "Prohibition is a Failure" is coming out on Sunday Dec. 12th, and we're proud as can be!  We'll be doing a CD release show that night at Southpaw here in Brooklyn.  Its gonna be a great show with a number of our favorite musicians joining us on the bill.  We recorded the album over the summer with John Cohen, a founder of The New Lost City Ramblers, one of our all time favorite bands and it was a huge honor as well as a pleasure to make a record with him.  This EP will be followed by a full length LP with more recordings from those sessions a few months down the road.  The album will be available for purchase on the internet soon enough... but come down to the show and get one hot of the press!

The Dust Busters and John Cohen Present: "Prohibition is a Failure" CD Release Party!

8pm - Brotherhood of the Jug Band Blues
8:45pm - Kristin Andreassen (of Uncle Earl and Sometymes Why) and Friends
9:30pm - The Dust Busters with John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers
10:30pm - Square Dance!

Sunday Dec. 12th
@
Southpaw
125 5th Ave btwn Sterling and St. Johns
Brooklyn, NY  
(718) 230-0236

Buy tickets in advance at: TicketWeb

John Cohen Photographs

The Dust Busters, photographed by John Cohen, Fall 2010.

The Dust Busters were photographed this Fall by our good friend and very favorite photographer, John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers.  We've been doing a whole lot of work with John Cohen of late including recording an album with him over the Summer which came out real nice- and we're releasing an EP from those sessions real soon!  The CD release show is set for Sunday Dec. 12th at South Paw here in Brooklyn.  Gonna be fun!  Look out for more info on that coming soon...

We were very honored to be photographed by John who among his many subjects has taken such stunning photos of so many of our favorite musicians over many years.

For more of these photos as well as lots more Dust Busters photos, visit our PHOTOS PAGE.

The Dust Busters, photographed by John Cohen, Fall 2010.

DBers w/ John Cohen, photo by John Cohen and Kehren Barbour, Fall 2010.

DBers w/ John Cohen, photo by John Cohen and Kehren Barbour, Fall 2010.

A Visit with Joe Thompson

[Photos by E. Smith]



On a beautiful day in early June The Dust Busters paid a visit to the home of Joe and Polly Thompson.  Joe Thompson is 91 and lives outside of Mebane, NC.  He has been playing fiddle since he was 5 years old, way back in 1923 and is perhaps the very last traditionally schooled African-American fiddler in the world. Joe is a World War II veteran and is long retired from his job at a furniture factory.  He continues to play music at home and at gigs including taking his music to Carnegie Hall in New York City, the National Folk Festival and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the International Music Festival in Brisbane, Australia.  In 2007 Joe Thompson was honored with the National Heritage Fellowship award from National Endowment for the Arts.  The Carolina Chocolate Drops have spent a lot of time with Joe and have learned a lot from him.  They continue to present many of his tunes in their performances.  We met Joe at the 2nd Black Banjo Gathering, held in Boone, NC in March of this year.


We sat around the Thompson's picnic table in the field behind their house and played a number of tunes as Joe recalled his musical family and his upbringing.  Joe and Polly were tremendously nice and hospitable and we were really touched and honored to spend time with them.  Here are some excerpts from the long afternoon that we spent at the Thompson's home.

Big thanks go to Joe and Polly's friend Larry Vellani for bringing us to their home that day, and a shout out goes to our friend Steve Kruger who joined us with his banjo and guitar.

Here's the songs we played that you'll hear on this recording:

I Shall Not be Moved
John Henry
Dona Got a Ramblin' Mind
Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad
Lights in Valley
Georgia Buck
Molly Put the Kettle On
Ladies on the Steamboat
Molly Put the Kettle On
I've Got Oil in my Vessel
Careless Love

More photos below:

Dock Boggs Festival

The Dust Busters are on our way to Norton, Virginia today, once home of legendary banjo player Dock Boggs and current home of the Dock Boggs Festival.  We will be playing there on Saturday Sept. 11th at 3pm.  At 5pm our friends The Tillers will also play.  Gonna be a great festival, check it out!

July 20th at Jalopy with Frank Fairfield and Blind Boy Paxton!

The Dust Busters will be appearing at the Jalopy Theater in Brooklyn, NY Tuesday July 20th at 8:30pm.  We will be opening the show for Frank Fairfield who is playing at 9:30pm.  $10 cover. 

This is Frank's first ever appearance in New York!  Frank is a top notch fiddler, banjo player and guitarist and a great great singer.  He's one of the best traditional old-time musicians in the country today and a Dust Buster favorite.  Check him out!  He will be playing the show together with Blind Boy Paxton, another favorite!  

This is The Dust Busters only club appearance in New York City this summer, so come check it out!

Blind Boy Paxton (L) and Frank Fairfield (R)

Be sure to check out Eli's interview with Frank Fairfield on Down Home Radio...

The Jalopy Theater is located at:
315 Columbia Street
Brooklyn, New York 11231
tel: 718.395.3214
www.jalopy.biz

On Tour...

Hello everybody - The Dust Busters are taking to the road again!  Below is our late May - early June tour dates.  We're coming to your town, check it out!  Tell your friends!

[Dust Busters on the road, photo by C. Judelman]

Thursday May 27th - Cleveland, OH

8:30pm
Beachland Ballroom
15711 Waterloo Road
Cleveland, OH 44110
(216) 383-1124

Friday May 28th - Athens, OH

10:00 PM Appearing with Woody Pines
Casa Nueva
6 West State Street
Athens OH 45701

Saturday 29 Louisville
10pm 

The Rudyard Kipling
422 West Oak Street
Louisville, KY 40203-3002
(502) 636-1311

Sunday the 30th - Cincinatti, OH

10PM Appearing with The Tillers

The Northside Tavern
4163 Hamilton Avenue
Cincinatti Ohio  45223-2480

Tuesday June 1^st - Chapel Hill, NC

7:30-9:30pm
Woodcrest Farm
5604 Dairyland Road
Hillsborough, NC 27278

Wednesday June 2^nd - Asheville, NC
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Laurey's
87 Biltmore ave
Asheville NC 28801

Thursday June 3^rd- Chapel Hill, NC

2 sets 8pm and 9:30pm with band in between
Outdoor show in: Ethan's Yard
904 West Main St.
Carrboro, NC 27510

Friday and Saturday June 4th & 5th we'll be camping and hanging out at the Mt Airy Fiddler's Convention. Gonna be fun!

The Dust Busters at the Beachland Ballroom

The Dust Busters are happy to be appearing at The Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland Ohio on Thursday May 27th, 8:30pm.  Check it out!  Gonna be a great show.  Thanks to our friends at Roots of American Music for sponsoring this show.

The Dust Busters on Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour

During our March 2010 tour we played on the "Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour," an awesome Radio/TV show taped weekly at the Kentucky Theater in Lexington. Below are our performances from that program. To view our complete uninterrupted appearance on Woodsongs, CLICK HERE.
"Greenback Dollar"


"All Night Long"


"Roving Gambler"


"Leather Britches"


"I've Got a Bulldog"

Square Dance!

ITS FINALLY HERE! - Square Dance at the South Street Seaport, Thursday April 29th, free and open to the public.  Show starts at 6pm, dance begins at 7:30pm. The Dust Busters will play a short set at 6:45pm and then we will play for the dance! 

Dust Busters at the Black Banjo Gathering

 We were privileged to play at the 2nd "Black Banjo Gathering" at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC in March.  More photos and videos from that coming soon.  While there the fine photographer Bill Steber was taking old fashioned tin-type photographs of the musicians and we were lucky enough to have him take this fine one of us.

The Dust Busters with John Cohen in Washington Square Park

Here's us at the 2009 Washington Square Reunion.  This annual event brings together all the people that have played folk music in Washington Square Park over the years, going back all the way to the 1940's.  This year we had the good fortune to sit in the grass and play music with John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers.  We were rehearsing for our appearance later that week on WNYC radio.

Notes on Our Album

Below is the list of tracks on our new CD followed by the artists whose old recordings influenced our own versions:

Some Quotes About the Band:

 
(photo by O. Mullick)

“The Dust Busters bring back the true spirit of Old Time Music, where every singer invented his own performance. Besides being excellent musicians on fiddle, banjo and guitar, pump organ, harmonica, etc., they sing with the high voices that echo the sounds of young artists heard on the old 78s, evoking the spirit of the “Golden Era” of recording, and the mystery of their own identity.

They have built their repertoire from some of the best music of the past and they keep it alive and lively. They have found resonance with the intensity of rural music, while delighting in the nuances that preserve the individual uniqueness of the genre. This is music that will keep your mind dancing.

The Dust Busters are reaching for new musical highs, and they play the kind of music I want to hear.”

- John Cohen, New Lost City Ramblers.

“A really excellent stringband! They make this old music alive and present.”

- Bob Fass, WBAI 99.5fm New York.

“Here’s three of my favorite people to play and sing with ever, kicking musical ass all over the landscape. If you like your trad/roots benter and hotter than normal, you’ll love this!”

- Peter Stampfel, Holy Modal Rounders and Fugs.

"The Dust Busters have clearly been hanging out with some of my favorite dead guys. And this is the thing: you either fall in love with the dead guys or you don't -- but you can't fake that sort of communion. The Dust Busters are there -- you can hear it in their repertoire, and in the heart with which they play. It's a rare gift, and I'm so glad they're sharing it!"
- Rayna Gellert, Uncle Earl. 

About The Dust Busters

The Dust Busters are an old-time string band based out of Brooklyn, New York. They met while playing in a larger band with folk music legends John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers and Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders.  The Dust Busters integrate a wide range of old-time songs, ballads, fiddle tunes and jug band blues into every performance.  They are influenced and inspired by the direct fusion of Scots-Irish and African music that took place in Appalachia, the Western states and the Deep South from the earliest colonial times through the Second World War.  The Dust Busters' music is infused with the old-time feeling and freewheelin’ high energy present in the true diversity of American Folk Music. By carrying this music forward with authenticity and creativity The Dust Busters make it thoroughly contemporary, meaningful and fun!

The Dust Busters have appeared at venues including The Old Town School of Folk Music, Club Passim and the Jalopy Theater. They have played at festivals such as Pickathon, The Brooklyn Folk Festival, the The Dock Boggs Festival, The Woodstock Film Festival and the Borgas International Folk Festival and appeared on TV shows such as Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour, and radio such as Sound Check with John Schaefer, WNYC 93.9fm.  For a list of more appearances, see below.

The Dust Busters are:
Walker Shepard (Banjo, Guitar, Guit-Jo, Fiddle)
Craig Judelman (Fiddle, Pump Organ)
Eli Smith (Guitar, Banjo, Banjo-Mandolin, Harmonica, Autoharp, Jug, Spoons)

For tour schedule and samples from
The Dust Busters’ new album, see:
http://www.myspace.com/dustbustersmusic

Contact Info: DustBustersMusic@Gmail.com

(photo O. Mullick)

A list of selected appearances by The Dust Busters:
The Brooklyn Folk Festival (Brooklyn, New York)
Pickathon (Portland, OR)
The Dock Boggs Festival (Norton, VA)
The Black Banjo Gathering (Boone, NC)
The Jalopy Theater
Club Passim (Cambridge, MA)
The Green Lantern (Lexington, KY)
Woodsongs Oldtime Radio Hour (Lexington, KY)
The Woodstock Film Festival (Woodstock, NY)
The Margarette Meade Film Festival (New York, NY)
Mississippi Pizza (Portland, OR)
The Old Time School of Folk Music (Chicago, IL)
Borgas International Folk Festival (Bulgaria)
The Crane (Galway, Ireland)