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Everything but the kitchen sink

Juggernaut Jug Band make music with household implements Who : The Juggernaut Jug Band Where: St. David’s Church, Pemberton Dec. 8 Where: MY Place Dec. 9, 5 p.m. Vaudeville is the look, jug is the sound of The Juggernaut Jug Band.

Juggernaut Jug Band make music with household implements

Who

: The Juggernaut Jug Band

Where:

St. David’s Church, Pemberton Dec. 8

Where:

MY Place Dec. 9, 5 p.m.

Vaudeville is the look, jug is the sound of The Juggernaut Jug Band.

The Louisville, Kentucky band hits Whistler and Pemberton this weekend with country hee-haw.

Roscoe Goose (jug, washboards, trumpet, harmonica, snare and vocals), Gil Fish (bass, washtub base kazoo, nose flute, and vocals), World Wide Webb, and Big Daddy T are the five band members, presented in Whistler as part of the Whistler Community Arts Council performance series and in Pemberton by the Pemberton Arts Council.

The band members have played together since the 1960s. Their roots lie with the blues but they claim inspiration from among others Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, the Doors and the Barenaked Ladies.

The band’s home base is a logical spot; Louisville is known as the home of jug bands, in the same way New Orleans is aligned with jazz. Jug music was considered a major part of American folk culture, particularly in the southeast, during the first few decades of the century.

Jug music mixes classic jazz with blues, and songs are performed on guitar, violin, banjo or mandolin but highlighted by the notes of the jug.

Don’t Try This at Home

, the Juggernaut Jug Band’s new album, was self-produced in conjunction with the Sing Out Corporation based in Bethlehem, PA and Dirty Linen based in Baltimore.

Webb wrote originals like the odd combination, Barbecue on Broadway, as well as Hawaiian Holiday, while the rest of the songs come from songwriting legends including Bob Wills, Cab Calloway and the Boswell Sisters.

Toting top hats and sporting bowties with white shirts, the five-piece band conjures up the "absent-minded at the saloon" image – not that their sound is anything misplaced. Spoons, the harmonica howl, and strings create a sound that the band calls "1920s rock ’n’ roll."

The Juggernaut Jug Band also revives The San Francisco Bay Blues, along with songs of rascal women like Minnie the Moocher, and Lydia the Tattooed Lady from the Marx Brothers’ At the Circus. If quirky costumes are not enough to tempt, come out and listen to the only musical genre that creates its sound from ordinary household items, from good ol’ fashioned cutlery to the sound of a jug – literally, a stoneware crockery piece that might be sitting on you great Aunt Tid’s windowsill.

They mix their style with modern covers too. The Kinks’ You Really got Me gets the jug treatment and rounds out the new album. If you’re in luck, you might hear a rendition of Jim Morrison’s People Are Strange with a touch of washtub bass instrumental. The Who’s classic tale of the Pinball Wizard, also figures into the song list.

The Juggernaut Jug Band lends itself to foot stomping and clapping along, so drop by to absorb the feeling of down south.

For more information and tickets for the Whistler show call Maurice Young Millennium Place at 604-935-8410 or Ticket Master. Tickets for the Pemberton show are available from the Pemberton Trading Co. and the Pemberton Public Library.