Geoff Muldaur
and The Texas Sheiks
The Texas Sheiks
Tradition & Moderne
visit the band on myspace
also available on amazon
This project organized by Geoff Muldaur started out to divert legendary Texas guitar player and singer-songwriter extraordinaire, Stephen Bruton, from his cancer and the side effects of its attempted cure, and turned into a tribute disc when he succumbed shortly after finishing recording. Geoff and Stephen were connected from way back in the days of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. When Geoff put out a call for help with his idea he got an all-star response from some of the best players around; Cindy Cashdollar (Dobro), Suzy Thompson (fiddle), Johnny Nicholas (guitar) Bruce Hughes (bass). As if that weren’t enough honorary guest Sheiks Jim Kweskin threw his vocals, guitar and banjo into the mix along with Floyd Domino (piano) and Damien Llanes (brush box) joined the party.
They explore and update the music played by Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, W.C. Handy, Skip James, Bob Willis and his Texas Playboys,
The Mississippi Sheiks, and Gus Cannon. Music that is tied by its roots into the soil, the early blues and that combination of jazz swing. It is a romping and stomping disc and the joy of excellent players playing together and exploring the new musical friendships and the music they love translates itself very well to the listener’s ear. It is the forming of new friendships that will last, coming together for a worthy purpose and will probably have some ramifications for future recordings. Something joyous that comes out of sadness that so epitomizes the music of Stephen Bruton.