The Bumper Jacksons
2016
PM
MEL LEHAN HALL AT ST. JAMES i
3214 West 10th Ave, Kitsilano
Accessible 
All ages
This event has already taken place.
Like an old-time barn dance in downtown New Orleans, the Bumper Jacksons pull together a vast array of early American traditions into a deliciously cohesive sound that strikes you right in the heart. It’s a sound that’s pure passion…. joyous ragtime dances and roadhouse drinking songs are valleyed by delicate waltzes of loss and regret. They will be making their first trip across their Northern Border to perform at the Rogue Folk Club.
The Bumper Jacksons started out humbly in 2012 as a country-meets-city duet between Jess Eliot Myhre (clarinet, vocals, washboard) and Chris Ousley (guitar, vocals, banjo) in the backyards, living rooms and front porches of DC and Baltimore, MD. They soon ventured out and honed their chops in the dark jazz clubs of New Orleans as well as their favorite old-time fiddler’s conventions throughout the southern Appalachians.
Chris and Jess built the core of the Bumper Jacksons’ sound through these diverse and unassuming beginnings. It has matured quickly over these few short years and caught the interest of the rest of the Bumper Jacksons members. Dave Hadley (pedal steel), Alex Lacquement (upright bass, vocals), Dan Samuels (drum kit, suitcase) & Brian Priebe (trombone) masterfully amplify the diversity of tone, rhythm and power that defines the band’s core sound. The success of the band’s last two albums - Sweet Mama, Sweet Daddy Come In (2014) and Too Big World (2015) – demonstrate the ongoing refinement of their scrappy-yet-elegant, familiar-yet-reaching sound that explores a full spectrum of human emotion in its goal for the caramel core of Americana.
They’ve built a strong community of fans around their sound at home on the East Coast of the US and it was through this community’s support that the Bumper J’s have garnered the respect of regional arts foundations (2013-14 Washington Area Music Award winners, 2015-16 Strathmore Music Hall Artists in Residence, recipients of the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Touring Grant) and are able to push out into new cities and communities across North America.
So whether it’s a packed house in a historic amphitheater or a fireside in the hills of western Maryland, the intimate ballads, growly blues, and fast paced two-steps will call you into another world that’s at once like home and the road. Their truly Americana sound that grabs at your soul and connects you with over 150 years of human passion. If you’ve got lips, they’ll smile… if you’ve got feet, they’ll dance… if you’ve got a heartbeat, it’ll quicken… all when you hear the sounds of the Bumper Jacksons.