The best blues this side of 1925
Mulebone coming to Crystal Theatre
Trending
CRYSTAL FALLS – Mulebone, a duo with a unique name and unusual instruments, brings traditional blues to Crystal Theatre Thursday, at 7 pm. (CDT) Thursday, July 23.
Mulebone is a partnership between multi-instrumentalist John Ragusa and Roots Music specialist Hugh Pool. Mulebone's unique sound is produced by an abundance of novel instrumentation. Pool plays National Steel, electric, acoustic and cigar box guitars, harmonica, stomps on a boot-board, and sings lead vocals. Ragusa plays all manner of flutes, fifes, tin whistles, cornet, conch shell, jews harp, and chimes in on the harmony vocals.
Equally at home in the worlds of Blues, Folk, and Roots music, Mulebone breaks new ground with an original sound that is soulful, agile and adventurous. Their repertoire includes original songs that are poetic, hard-driving and entertaining. They feature slide guitar boogies, one-chord trance riffs a la Howlin Wolf and Fred McDowell, the uplifting rags of Reverend Gary Davis, and country blues of all shapes and colors.
The duo has recorded five critically lauded CDs and achieved AMA Top 100 with them all. Their fourth CD, “Keep on Movin,” earned the distinction of being the only independent release in the AMA Top 40 for six weeks in 2015. Along with playing live and TV appearances, they won blues artist of the year at radio stations from Seattle, Washington to Red Bank, New Jersey. Hugh Pool was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame in 2016.
"Some of the best blues you're likely to hear this side of 1925," says one critic. "Ragusa and Pool don't just rehash classics from the blues greats; they recreate them as their own, and write originals that fit in seamlessly with that repertoire. They're the real deal."
Four-event season flex-passes or advanced tickets for this event can be purchased online at thecrystaltheatre.org or by phone at 906-875-3208.