A renaissance of jug band music evolved in the early 1960’s and many young musicians cut their chops on classic old-time tunes associated with the jug bands of the 1920’s and 1930’s. Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions were a jug band that played around the south San Francisco bay area during that time. They were a rag-tag group that purposely spelled "McCree" in a variety of ways just to be anarchistic. One of their 1964 performances at The Top of the Tangent, a coffee house on the top floor of a pizzeria in Palo Alto was recorded for broadcast over Stanford University radio station KZSU-FM. A tape of that recording was discovered in 1997 in the attic of the mom of one of the student recording engineers. An album of 17 songs and an interview with the band was produced in 1999. It was released on Grateful Dead Records because a few months after these performances three members of Mother McCree’s picked up electric instruments and morphed into a blues band called The Warlocks and then began calling themselves The Grateful Dead.
On American Pastimes today we’ll feature a set of songs performed by Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions. Bob Weir, Jerry Garcia and Pigpen are all featured on these tracks.
PLAYLIST:
Bill Price “Bluegrass Spectacular” from Bluegrass Hill on Folkways
Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies “Down by the O-H-I-O” from Daddy of Western Swing on Proper Box
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys “Faded Love” from Classic Western Swing on Rhino
Dennis Jay “Texas Skies Shining in a Cowgirl's Eyes” from Western & Country
Dennis Jay “South of the Seguin” from Western & Country
Spook Handy “So Long, It's Been Good to Know You” from Woody, Pete and Me (Keep the Flame Alive)
The Buckaroos “Mama Tried” from The Buckaroos Play Buck & Merle
The Buckaroos “Second Fiddle” from The Buckaroos Play Buck & Merle
Ilya Toshinskiy “Train Station” from Red Grass on Hadley Music Group
The Duhks “Death Came Knockin'” from The Duhks on Sugar Hill Records
The Zinc Kings “Bay Rum Blues” from The Zinc Kings on Modern Primitive Music
The Zinc Kings “Give the Fiddler a Dram” from The Zinc Kings on Modern Primitive Music
Nashville Bluegrass Band “Old Timey Rising Damp” from Compilation
Nashville Bluegrass Band “Old Devil's Dream” from Compilation
Kate Wolf “Like a River” from Gold In California - A Retrospective of Recordings (1975-1985) on Kaleidoscope
Karen Dalton “Katie Cruel” from In My Own Time on Light In The Attic
Buffy Sainte-Marie “Until it's Time for You to Go” from The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie on Vanguard Records
Judy Collins “Someday Soon” from Live At Wolf Trap
Ilya Toshinskiy “Old River” from Red Grass on Hadley Music Group
Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions “Ain't It Crazy” from Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions on Grateful Dead Records
Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions “Beedle Um Bum” from Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions on Grateful Dead Records
Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions “Cocaine Blues” from Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions on Grateful Dead Records
Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions “Crazy Words, Crazy Tune” from Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions on Grateful Dead Records
Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions “On the Road Again” from Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions on Grateful Dead Records
Banjo Nickaru and His Western Scooches “Nobody but My Baby Is Getting My Love” from Very Next Thing
Banjo Nickaru and His Western Scooches “Sweet Georgia Brown” from Very Next Thing
Iris DeMent and Loudon Wainwright “Pack up Your Troubles” from Bleeker Street
The Georgia Pals “Two Orphans” from Silver Threads Among the Gold on Folkways Recordings
The Time Jumpers “Bloodshot Eyes” from Kid Sister on New Rounder
The Time Jumpers “All Aboard” from Kid Sister on New Rounder
Hylo Brown “Hallelujah I’m a Bum” from Legends and Tall Tales on Rural Rhythm Records
Earl Taylor “Foggy Mountain Top” from Classic Bluegrass #2 on Smithsonian Folkways
Hound Dog Jackson “Cottonfields” from Country Swinging
The White Brothers “Raw Hide” from Live in Sweden
The Byrds “Farther Along” from Farther Along on columbia
Jerry Douglas “Panhandle Rag” from 3 Bells
