Hey Mavis wsg/The Steam Donkeys
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Steam Donkeys
$10
With songs that effortlessly float from softly orchestrated lullabies to raw and raucous love songs, the music of Hey Mavis ...is best described as “Appalachian Americana”. Their lyrics focus heavily on the beautiful imagery of life, the joy and labor of raising children, and the timeless themes of love and heartbreak.
“Wrapped in original songs whose styles range from old timey to jazzy to blistering alt rock, Laurie's voice turns from cold steel to melted butter in the time it takes your heart to break."
~ Don Dixon, key producer of the jangle pop movement
Laurie Michelle Caner~vocals and banjo
Brent Kirby~vocals, guitar, kick drum, harmonica
Eddie Caner~fiddle, bad jokes
Bryan Thomas~bass and percussion
www.steamdonkeys.com
Ladies and Gents, the Steam Donkeys... They’re a country band. They’re a rock band. They’re honky-tonkers. They’re swingers (musically, that is). They’re The Steam Donkeys, and there’s nobody quite like them. For more than a decade, the boys have brought their blend of musical virtuosity and eclecticism to bar stages, street festivals and massive amphitheaters throughout Buffalo, Western New York and all the way down the Eastern Seaboard. Their live performances have caused thousands of music lovers to exclaim, "Hey, these guys are good," and bar owners to proclaim, "You boys drank a lot of beer."
At the time, country music meant line-dancing, with Billy Ray Cyrus about to spring Achy Breaky Heart on the world. The seminal Uncle Tupelo album No Depression had been out for less than a year, and the genre to which that CD would lend its name was little more than an abstract notion in the musical minds of guys like Buck, Charlie, John and Kyle. In 1991, alternative country wasn’t even a phenomenon off in the distance -- it didn’t exist. Weaving Buck’s smooth vocals and rhythm guitar with Charlie’s Dick Dale-meets-Don Rich surf/twang leads over the pinpoint precision of John and Kyle’s rhythm section, The Steam Donkeys quickly built a following on the Buffalo music scene. Bringing real country music to venues that normally hosted sound-alike cover bands and hair metal, their reputation started to grow beyond the borders of the Queen City. Doug Moody joined up in 1992, his violin virtuosity and vocal range adding a lush texture to The Steam Donkeys’ melodic grit. That year, they released a five-song EP, Songs From a Stolen Guitar, recorded by Robbie Takac of The Goo Goo Dolls, another band grinding away in hopes of hitting it big. The Steam Donkeys toured the Southeast in 1993, and a year later, their first full-length release, Cosmic Americanarama, had them on the road for much of the next three years. The band’s musical evolution, along with the toll extracted by constant touring, led to some lineup changes, with bassist Frank Quebral coming on board in 1994. The band’s journeys through the south helped land the only spot afforded a Yankee band on Bubbapalooza, Vol. 1, an anthology of non-Nashville country and roots music. John left the band, temporarily, in 1997, and Frank did the same a year later, with Joe Kross and John Weber taking their places. The band also put together a little outdoor show with a few of their friends at the old Pierce Arrow that year, an all-day party they called Americanarama. In 1998, pedal-steel guitar wizard Jim Whitford also joined up, adding to the musical tapestry, and the band’s second full CD, Little Honky Tonks, won rave reviews.
The touring continued over the next three years, with The Steam Donkeys hitting 23 states in all.
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