Mulebone

 
9:00 pm

July 7, 2018

9PM show – “Pay What You Want”!

Mulebone is a partnership comprised of multi-instrumentalist John Ragusa and roots music specialist Hugh Pool. The launching pad for their musical expression is traditional blues. 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. Sometimes the Duo plays close to the source, at other moments they seem to float above it and take a new look as one seeing their home for the first time from a distant land.

Mulebone’s repertoire includes original songs that are poetic, hard driving and entertaining, slide guitar boogies, 1 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.

Hugh plays National Steel, electric, acoustic and cigar box guitars, harmonica, stomps on a boot-board, and sings lead vocals – all with a mouth full of whiskey and a giant heart. John plays all manner of flutes, fifes, tin whistles, cornet, conch shell, jews harp, and chimes in on the harmony vocals – with a sound all his own that transcends his instruments.

Mulebone’s self titled first record spent 15 weeks in the top 100 on the Album Networks National Roots/Americana chart. Their second release “New Morning” received significant airplay and reached #4 on XM/Sirius radios Bluesville chart which earned them an invitation to come to Washington and record at the XM radio studio. The outcome of that session is the duo’s third release, “Bluesville Sessions” which made the Top 100 of the Roots/Americana charts within a few weeks of it’s release. Mulebone 4th album, “Keep On Movin'” hit the radio in the fall of 2014 and has spent over 5 months in the Top 100 and 10 weeks in the Top 40.  After hearing it, legendary Rock DJ Pat St. John declared: “Holy Crap what sound! You guys have made a great Record here…it’s over the top! Love this all over. Authentic. This is Art!”