When we first started the Strung Out String Band our banjo (and accordion) player was the inimitable Ilan Moss. Ilan moved to Paris many moons ago but fear not, the years of drinking pastis while listening to chanson have not lessened his skills in American music. In fact, while travelling the back streets of Paris (or some other French town) he crossed paths with Robert Crumb. Yes, that Robert Crumb. You may not know it but R. Crumb is a lover of American folk music and a great player as well. Throw some bass and fiddle into the mix and you have The Melody Sheiks. Their new record was recorded in France and was just released on Arhoolie. Pick up a copy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For the past seven years the Strung Out String Band has organized an old time jam at Freddy’s Bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn. We’ve loved every minute of the banjo banging, fiddle dripping, murder ballad swilling good times. Unfortunately, as I’m sure you know, Freddy’s is finally slated for Ratner’s wrecking ball. No more old time jams at Freddy’s. No more Freddy’s.

But wait! There is hope yet…

The non-sleeping, video editing, music loving management of Freddy’s has vowed to reopen. The exact location for this resurrection is unknown but we will do our best to bring Old Timey tunes to Freddy’s the Sequel as soon as we can.

Keep those bows rosined and the banjos tuned. We’ll be back.

Our new CD is finally complete. It’s been years since we last hurled our best musical ideas against a wall and recorded the aftermath. We spent hours swilling cheap beer and whiskey in a subterranean studio buried deep within New York’s Lower East Side and emerged with a record that we are proud to call our own. It contains such old favorites as Shove the Pig’s Foot Further in the Fire and The Drunkard’s Hiccups and a few songs you’ve never heard before.

We would be quite appreciative if you’d pick up a copy for yourself and a few for your friends. All proceeds go directly into fixing broken instruments, funding trips to

On October, 20th we were invited to the WKCR studios to perform live on the air as part of the weekly Honky Tonkin’ show. We had a blast. Give it a listen below.

Strung Out String Band Live on WKCR

It’s been four years since we recorded anything and a lot has changed since we released Moonshine & Palinka. We have a whole slew of new material, new band members, another four years of whiskey drinking and playing in dive bars under our belts. We are excited to have been able to find the time (okay, we recorded it in three hours….) to get together in a real studio to record some of our favorite songs. Below you can listen to a sample. Look for the complete CD sometime this summer.

Listen to The Bibb County Hoedown

On February 5th, 2006 we stopped by WKCR’s studios to play live on the Moonshine Show hosted by Matt Winters. We had a great time despite the ungodly early hour for a Sunday.

You can listen here.