NOTTY'S JUG SERENADERS

“GREAT MUSIC / DO IT RIGHT” 
Notty’s 500.01 (D.1999), 45 rpm Vinyl - Single (limited edition: 500 copies)

Notker Homburger, Stimme/Gitarre * Thomas Banholzer, Jug/Trompete/Stimme * Andi Reinhard, Baritonsaxophon/Percussion/Stimme.

Aufgenommen 1996 (Great Music) und 1998 (Do It Right) in Frauenfeld von Andi Reinhard.

GREAT MUSIC (Notker Homburger) / DO IT RIGHT (Notker Homburger)

“... I HAVE JUST FINISHED LISTENING TO ALL THE RECORDS YOU SENT, INCLUDING THE 45RPM OF “GREAT MUSIC”/“DO IT RIGHT”.

“GREAT MUSIC” IS A CLASSIC! THANKS SO MUCH FOR GIVING ME A COPY.

I MUST MAKE C.D.S OF IT FOR SEVERAL PEOPLE WHO I KNOW WILL APPRECIATE IT. I’M SURE THIS RECORD HAS NOT BEEN HEARD VERY WIDELY. ... I THOUGHT “GREAT MUSIC” WAS A BRILLIANTLY COMPOSED PIECE OF MUSICAL SATIRE. I THOUGHT THE WAY THE JAZZ HORNS DESCEND INTO UTTER CACAPHONY AND UNMUSICAL CHAOS WAS A GREAT STATEMENT. I GUESS THIS RECORD WILL HAVE TO BE AN “UNDERGROUND” CLASSIC. …”

(Robert Crumb, Brief an Homburger, 11. Juli 2011)

“This band have previously had material reviewed in B&R #73 and #92 and have a sprightly and highly individual approach to jug band material; they also have a sharp sense of humour. This 45 rpm single is however deadly serious. The music may be Will Shade meets Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman, but the lyric content of 'Great Music' deals in a few short verses with the whole idea of what the white listener expects from 'white blues acts', stereotyping, cultural hijacking and racism within the (white) Blues scene - really.

No 'good time hokum' then, but a song tackling an issue that is all too often ignored. And lest you think it doesn't apply here in the UK, I have heard similar comments to those Mr. Homburger quotes from people closely involved with the Blues here - it's one of the things that really does piss me off about the British blues scene. I first heard this song on a demo tape a few years back and it still shocks me - and it is probably even more relevant now. The flip is rather more conventional, but buy this one for the challenging 'A' side. A brave release in a limited run of 500.”

(Norman Darwen, Blues & Rhythm Magazine #150, 6/2000)

“They’ll win no marks for political correctness, but the Serenaders are at least very brave. They tackle what appears to be a purist attitude in continental blues clubs – that white guys can’t play the blues with enough feeling and soul, so how about Peter Green, The Winter Brothers, Stevie Ray Vaughan etc? Their defence is decidedly lo fi and homespun.”

(Simon Jones, fRoots Magazine #201, March 2000)