Photo by Bill Gnade / Sentinel Staff |
April Jubett : guitar & vocals Bill Jubett : banjo & vocals
Bruce Stockwell : banjo & vocals Kelly Stockwell : bass
Hot Mustard may well be a bluegrass first - a quartet featuring two banjos and two married couples! When singer/banjo picker Bill Jubett teamed up with singer/guitarist April Hobart (now April Jubett), a truly classic-sounding duet was born. Add banjo picker/singer Bruce Stockwell, a 40-year bluegrass veteran and MerleFest banjo contest winner, along with his wife, bassist Kelly Stockwell, and you’ve got some hot and spicy bluegrass chemistry!
Banjoist Bruce Stockwell is known around New England for decades of great work with the Stockwell Brothers, and for his excellent banjo instruction. Bruce's wife Kelly, an old-time banjoist in her own right, took up the bass fiddle facilitating the formation of Hot Mustard. She eagerly tackles unusual bass breaks. Bruce and Kelly live in southern Vermont.
Guitarist/singer April Jubett comes from Maine, inspired by her dad's decades of playing bluegrass there. April is a vocal stylist with a clear, clean, vibrato-free country tone hailing back to Sara Carter. She also plays strong guitar (with a thumb pick) and emcees the show. April and Bill Jubett were literal newlyweds at the time of this recording. Bill is Bruce's banjo student and protege. They must have woodshedded endlessly to develop their stunning twin banjo arrangements of jazz, blues, country and bluegrass standards, as you'll hear in "Medley" and Jimmy Martin's "Theme Time" and "Hold Whatcha Got". Bill is also a stout lead singer. Bill and April live in southern New Hampshire.
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Every bluegrass band has learned, no matter how hot the pickin', you've got to have good singing. Hot Mustard features very traditional numbers such as Jean Ritchie's "Blue Diamond Mines" and Roy Acuff's "Streamlined Cannon Ball". April leads the way with power and sensitivity. She also sings terrific harmony with Bill and Bruce, notably on the Stanley Brothers inspired "Angel Band". The only adjective for their slow trios is "luscious"! April also wrote and sings a haunting introduction to Ralph Stanley's "Clinch Mountain Backstep". She adds verses to "The Banks of the Ohio" telling the unfortunate girl's side of the story, as she duets with Bill.
Hold Whatcha Got.mp3
Streamline Cannonball.mp3
Same Old Day.mp3
Sweet Dixie.mp3
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