“Big Horn Mama” was recorded as a six-piece band before a live studio audience. Led by Jess Eliot Myhre (vocals, clarinet, washboard) and Chris Ousley (vocals, guitar, banjo, ukulele), the group paints America's story from New Orleans' brothels to Appalachian hollers. Their Texas swing interpretation of the jazz classic “Darktown Strutter’s Ball” has become a radio favorite on WAMU’s Americana stations (Mary Cliff’s Traditions, The Al Steiner Show). The opening track “Crow Jane” earned them an invitation to perform at the Washington Area Music Awards this year along with a 2012 nomination for “Best Folk/Traditional Group.”

The duo works hard to dig up nearly-lost tunes from the tradition and this album makes it clear that they’ve done their homework. Curators as much as revivalists, they focus on that dynamic period of time at the beginning of recorded music. They are able to recreate the magic of when the diversity of American roots music first became widely available on 78s, thus influencing musicians all over the country and sparking an outpouring of innovation. You’ll hear musical nods to Texas in their southern blues tunes as well as Appalachian guitar runs in a New Orleans ragtime number. Above all, through the Bumper Jacksons’ musical diversity the common thread between these musics becomes clear – it is all essentially community dance music that is unassuming, energetic, and rooted deep in our American consciousness.

So come on out, and shake it like your granddaddy did!

Jess Eliot Myhre - clarinet, vocals, washboard, ukulele
Chris Ousley - guitar, vocals, banjo, ukulele, mouth horn
Matt Levine - lap steel and dobro
Brad Gunson - trombone
Dan Cohan - suitcase percussion
Monty Montgomery - sousaphone

Press:
"Bumper Jacksons straddle the breadth of old-time American folk musics. Swinging their way through country blues and New Orleans jazz with equal ease, the group recreates the sultry atmosphere of a smoke-filled speakeasy. Don’t miss them!”
- Zach Young, Offbeat Magazine, New Orleans’ WWOZ