If you're not familiar with jug band music and want to know a little more then read on...

When jug bands started up in 1920s America, they had a jug player and other traditional and homemade instruments, such as rhythm guitar, wash tub bass, washboard, mandolin, spoons, and kazoo. A jug player is required for an authentic jug band, but other types of band employing a mix of traditional and homemade instruments are sometimes known as Skiffle bands.

Instruments are often improvised, and in the early days of jug music, guitars and mandolins were sometimes made from the necks of discarded guitars fastened to large gourds, flattened on one side, with a sound-hole cut into the flat side, before drying. Banjos were sometimes made from a discarded guitar neck and a metal pie plate. Since the jug is a bass instrument, we use a homemade stick bass to produce a similar sound - and it is certainly more attractive to play!

Early jug bands were typically made up of African American vaudeville musicians. Beginning in the urban south, they played a mixture of Memphis blues, ragtime and Appalachian music. It has been said that "The history of jug bands is the story of the birth of the blues". The informal and energetic music of the jug bands also contributed to the development of rock and roll

Jug bands were a popular and widespread form of musical entertainment until largely supplanted by big bands and swing in the 1930s. Among the best known traditional jug bands were Gus Cannons Jug Stompers, who recorded their song "Walk Right In" in 1930, later turned into a number one hit in the 1960s, and the Memphis Jug Band whose "On the Road Again" and "Stealin" were staples of the early Grateful Dead's repertoire.

Jug bands have continued to exist and evolve to the present day. Some bands remain faithful to the original roots, while others continually expand the jug band repertoire to include other folk music, popular music, and the blues.