On Friday, April 28, The Mainstay in Rock Hall is pleased to present the return of Baltimore area headliners, The Bumper Jacksons. The concert is tentatively scheduled to take place on The Mainstay’s new backyard stage, weather permitting.
The Bumper Jacksons revel in playing the sounds of authentic American music, from the sounds of New Orleans street corners to Appalachian hollers to neighborhood jump rope songs. Unafraid to scrap together sounds from forgotten 78 records, they pay homage to the traditions of vintage American music while fashioning their own unique, playful approach to the music. Your first impression may come from the voices of jazz clarinet and horns and swingy rhythms, as they play Billie Holliday and Duke Ellington classics. But this masterfully gives way to the voices of fiddles and guitars, bouncy banjo-ukes, weepy country pedal steel, rock-and-roll electric guitar, jug-band kazoo and assorted percussion. Although their sound is solidly centered around traditional jazz, listeners are tempted to re-categorize their genre as early Western swing, bluegrass or country blues. The truth is closer to that golden time when American music was just fun, before categories like ‘blues,’ ‘country,’ and ‘jazz’ meant much of anything. They have been honored multiple times as the Mid-Atlantic’s “Artist of the Year,” and “Best Country/Americana Band” at the Washington Area Music Awards. As one music critic commented, “Their hellacious devil music will make you get up and dance!”
Bumper Jacksons
This Americana program is made possible in part with support from the Hedgelawn Foundation, the Maryland State Arts Council and the Kent Cultural Alliance.
Showtime for the Mainstay concert event is 8 pm. Tickets are $20 in advance of the show and can be purchased online at mainstayrockhall.org. Phone reservations are accepted by calling (410) 639-9133 (tickets reserved by phone are $25 when paid at the door). The Mainstay is located at 5753 N Main Street in Rock Hall.
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