Nashville has gone Hollywood
and Hollywood has gone crazy!
"Muckland Music" may be the last vestige of "American" Music that hasn't been commercialized and homogenized by Madison Avenue.
As rich and pungent as the soil of NY potato country from where it sprang, the origins of this unique American musical genre can be traced back over 150 years to the mid 1800’s, when the Erie Canal was the highway of the day.
Traversing the heartland of rural New York State, it carried passengers and goods, but was also the conduit for communication. In those days, "Criers" stood on the decks of passing packet boats, and would call out the days' news. From Albany to Buffalo, these troubadours used simple tunes and cadences to report everything from the current price of corn and coal to the military progress in the war with Mexico. This melodic chanting was infectious, and it would capture the imagination of children in every small canal town.
The children mimicked and repeated these sing-song narratives, and thus the news was spread. Many of these simplistic tunes endured and were woven deep into the fabric of rural New York State life. Near the midpoint of the canal, in an unlikely, humble potato farming region, these sounds took root in a special way. Blending as they did, with the ancient Celtic melodies of the Irish immigrant potato laborers, digging in the rich black bottom land. There was also the influence of the "call and response" spirituals of passing slaves, escaping along the Underground Railroad. Just by this lucky happenstance of geography and culture, these sounds all blended together amid the rolling drumlin hills of central New York State, to become the amalgamation of styles, forevermore known as Muckland Music.
The Muckland Crooners, have almost single-handedly kept the torch burning. Billed as the "Garage Band That Wouldn't Die", in their current incarnation they are resurrected from a loosely knit group from the mid 1970's.
"Bound to Roll", an original blues tune recorded with a cigar box guitar:
. . . . and a few videos from the Savannah (NY) Potato Festival, September 22, 2007.
Our 2006 CD: "Small Potato Town" is available on http://cdbaby.com/cd/mucklandcrooners
