Starting in 2002, the Purty Mouth sound has evolved from an early cocktail of countrypolitan, costume and camp into a bracing shot of harmony, melody and dynamics, that respects Country & Western musical history while offering its own unique perspective on the tradition.
Performance
Purty Mouth has built a reputation in Seattle as a viable headliner, with shows at the Tractor Tavern, the High Dive, the Mars Bar, Jules Maes Saloon, the Blue Moon Tavern, and the Comet Tavern. Local acts sharing bills with Purty Mouth have included the Wakefields, Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers, Miss Mamie Lavona the Exotic Mulatta and her White Boy Band, the Half Brothers, the Moondoggies, Brent Amaker & the Rodeo, Rocky Point All Stars, the Rainieroos, Grownup Trouble, the Bouchards, the Buttersprites, and many more.
In the summer of 2007 Purty Mouth began its first residency, performing the third Wednesday of each month at the Highway 99 Blues Club in downtown Seattle. The club and its owner, Ed Maloney, recognizing the band’s ability to appeal to varied audiences, have regularly transformed these Wednesday nights into special events: most recently a benefit for local charity Home Alive, sponsored by Fluevog shoes and Seattle Sound Magazine, and featuring a fashion show with local designers and burlesque performers (performing with the band no less). Other special events include benefits for the Dunshee House and the Rat City Rollergirls.
Seattle Sound Magazine has this to say about Purty Mouth: “There is something for everyone at a Purty Mouth show as long as you like fun and cowboys. And having fun with cowboys. Especially if you are another cowboy" (Seattle Sound Magazine, December 2007).
As support, Purty Mouth has proved itself as an exotic and entertaining opener for a wide array of national touring acts, including Neko Case, the Hidden Cameras, Momus, the Meat Purveyors, Carolyn Mark, El Vez, the Ditty Bops and more, as well as local acts from across the musical spectrum.
Other performance highlights include: appearing, in 2004, at the Freedom to Marry benefit WEDrock, in Washington D.C., where they shared the stage with Henry Rollins, Sandra Bernhardt, Bob Mould, and Hedwig creator John Cameron Mitchell; performing, June 2006, at Seattle GLBT Pride, at the Seattle Center's Mural Amphitheater; and, during the summer of 2007, hitting the local festival circuit, performing at Seattle's Fremont Fair, Fremont Oktoberfest, the Bite of Seattle, Hempfest, and Portland's BearTown MusicJam.
On the Web
www.purtymouth , www.myspace.com/purtymouth, electronic press kit at www.sonicbids.com/purtymouth .
Music
Purty Mouth's ever-expanding program consists of originals by Graham, Mikey & Alyssa, with covers drawn from the catalogs of Kirsty MacColl, Highway 101, the Ramones, Wanda Jackson, Tammy Wynette, Jackie DeShannon, the Kendalls, the Beatles and Gram Parsons, with nods to the Nashville and Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtracks.
Featuring the three-part harmony of Lori, Alyssa and Mikey, the band completed a four-song demo in May 2006 under the auspices of Steve Smith (formerly of Billy Moon), two songs of which can be heard at www.purtymouth.com . Lead-off track “Tapedeck in His Tractor†received airplay on Seattle’s premier community radio station, KEXP.
For additional information, bookings, T-shirts, etc., contact Graham Short, (206) 329-6851, or via email .
Press
Vocalist Lori Ramon profiled in the February 2008 issue of Seattle Sound Magazine.
“There is something for everyone at a Purty Mouth show as long as you like fun and cowboys. And having fun with cowboys. Especially if you are another cowboy" Seattle Sound Magazine
"Gay and lesbian alt-country band from Seattle. They're sort of like Hee Haw meets Queer Eye" MetroWeekly (Washington DC Gay & Lesbian Magazine)
"The genius behind Purty Mouth is the band's respect for the music and the theatrical opportunities afforded by love songs that tell stories" The Stranger
"Perched somewhere between cornpone kitsch and hardcore honky-tonk, local combo Purty Mouth certainly have found a unique niche in an otherwise crowded roots scene" Seattle Weekly