I love listening to jug band music, though - much like bluegrass, swing, and jazz - it's outside of my wheelhouse as a performer.
That's mostly due to jug music being unfamiliar to me. So for both jug band Seasons, I followed the same ignoramus's path to wikipedia, did minimal research and picked a song to learn and play.
Back in the 126th Season, my jug band research led me to same song Lil played earlier this week, "Walk Right In," and I had the focus that week to incorporate some kazoo and some jug into my playing. Fun!
This week, my jug band research introduced me to the Muddy Basin Ramblers, a contemporary jug band from Taipei, Taiwan. They play a joyful jug version of "Tiger Rag" on their Golden-Melody-award-winning album Hold That Tiger!
"Tiger Rag" is public domain, so I figured it'd be a fun one to learn from the sheet music. Turns out I figured wrong. Sheet music is for horns [yikes] and modern versions are waaaaay too fast for a not-all-that-jazzy-or-juggy guy like me.
Still, I did what I could to figure out some uke chords and learn a few of the Rag's melodies. Even though I knew all week my new-to-this-classic-from-scenes-that-aren't-familiar-to-me version wouldn't end up incorporating much of "Tiger Rag"'s funky greatness, I did have a ton of fun doing my best to learn all I could this past week.
Recording today, it took me tons of takes to get through my uke version with all five strains of the tune…
…but on that only take where I made it all the way through, my little one was disappointed with how his fun intro went. So here's a better intro to check out if you like…
Dang, now where's that tiger?
