Sean Kershaw & the New Jack Ramblers

Before we get started let me just mention: This band plays EVERY SUNDAY at HANK'S SALOON in Brooklyn, 10pm, free! It is truly one of the best parties around, anywhere! Now for the bio...This is one of those bands that just kinda started and eventually we realized we had a band and should come up with a name. Sean's main band (at the time) the Blind Pharaohs had been playing every Sunday at Hank's Saloon for less than a year when the planes hit the WTC and the shit just generally hit the fan. Nobody felt much like playing for a month or so and then it seemed like the audience they had built up just wasn't into it anymore. Round about November the Pharaohs wanted to start doing just once a month so Sean told them to just stay home, he'd do the gig himself. The next Sunday Sean rolled into Hank's with his acoustic guitar, a snare drum, and a cheap stratocaster with a little practice amp, which he set up behind him. Thus equipped, he began playing Sunday nights solo or with whichever of his friends showed up to jam with him. Pedal steel player Gerald Menke was one of the first. Pretty soon Charlie Chedda was a regular on guitar, and Mark Ehrhart on drums, and more followed (see list of band members). Meanwhile bands such as the Lonesome Prairie Dogs helped flesh out the nights. Well, pretty soon there was an army of 7 guys and the occasional gal onstage every Sunday night, and Sean came up with the name "New Jack Ramblers" after watching the movie New Jack City and ruminating drunkenly on his ghetto honkytonk existence. Some awesomely wild times followed. There were bar brawls, drunken lesbian shenanigans on the dance floor, and kids breakdancing to the rippin' fast bluegrass -tempo country music that the Ramblers cranked out for hours on end. The crowd was a true cross-section of Brooklyn, skater kids, cowpunks, rastas, the old folks at the bar, hip-hop kids, gutterpunks, you name it. Oh yeah, and every once in a while a cowboy would wander in. Eventually after a string of incompetents and drunken flops somebody discovered that fiddle player Nate Landau could play bass, and there he remained til early '07, after a lovely baby girl brought him closer to home. Git player Jimmy Nations and banjo player Jack Ward happened to quit for different reasons at the same time in 2004, and so Izzy Zaidman moved from mandolin to guitar. Down to a 5-piece, the Ramblers adopted a more honkytonk (as opposed to bluegrass) approach to their music, and have incorporated more swing and rockabilly as well. Johnny Lightning remained on pedal steel, but eventually had to give it up due to his day job, although he still shows up for the odd weekend gig. With veteran Bob Hoffnar on pedal steel, Skip Krevens on guitar, Jason Hogue on upright bass and the indomitable Gasper Bertoncelj on drums the Ramblers have evolved from a rough-and-tumble countrypunk outfit to a true honkytonk juggernaught, without losing their edge. The Ramblers have branched out from Hank's (which is still home) and play all over New York and beyond. The next step is to get some material recorded. The band has gotten press from NY to Miami, but has yet to record a CD. We hope to do something about that in the next couple of months. (this was updated 10-07)