Roots music is an evasive genre. It may sound not that hard to play, but it the right vibe hard to find. Kansas City band Scotch Hollow set up base on a rural farm to find inspiration for their new album Little Tortuga, named after a grizzled old man who kept showing up to shoot the breeze. It inspired to write a slew of energetic originals - Kansas City Pepper and Bamma Lamma Jamma & Thelonious Dude have dance floor favorite written all over it.
Guitarist and songwriter Mark Verbeck and vocalist Carly Martin are the core members. They met at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and found that they interests - old style country, blues, and folk - complemented each other. They handpicked three classic blues songs - Little Walter's Nobody but You, Howling'Wolf's Moanin' at Midnight and Blind Willie Nelson's Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burnin' as a nod to their predecessors.
Scotch Hollow make roots music catchy and sexy again. Nowadays the latter element is often missing, with musicians overthinking things too much. Keeping it deceptively simple is an artform. Making it swing is even harder. They got it right on both counts.
Scotch Hollow:
Mark Verbeck: guitar
Brody Buster: harmonica
JD Linn: bass
Carley Martin: vocals
Ben Scholz: drums
Carley Martin: vocals
Little Tortuga is a self-released album. Buy it from their website or CD Baby.
Tracks:- Hocus Pocus
- Kansas City Pepper
- Drop in the Bucket
- Too Bad Poor Boy
- Nobody but You
- Little Tortuga
- Honey Baby Why
- Bamma Lamma Jamma & Thelonious Dude
- Moanin' at Midnight
- Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burnin'
- City By the Sea
- 04/26 Local Band Night @ Knuckleheads, Kansas City, MO
- 05/07 Arcadian Moon (Duo), Higginsville, MO
- 05/13 KC Wine Co (Duo), Gardner, KS
- 06/03 KC Wine C0 (Duo), Gardner, KS
- 06/08 Southgate House Revival, Newport, KY
- 06/10 Wagon Wheel Amphitheater, Philipsburg, PA
- 06/22 Mayo Clinic Street Fest, Rochester, MN
- 07/15 Calibration Brewery (Duo), North Kansas City, MO
- 07/29 KC Wine Co (Duo), Gardner, KS
- 08/11 Bayfront Blues Fest, Duluth, MN
- 08/12 Goat Ridge Brewing Co, New London, MN
- 08/26 Calibration Brewery (Duo), North Kansas City, MO
- 09/02 KC Wine Co (Duo), Gardner, KS
- 09/23 Calibration Brewery (Duo), North Kansas City, MO
- 09/24 Arcandian Moon Winery and Brewery, Higginsville, MO
- 10/14 Calibration Brewery (Duo), North Kansas City, M0