Like the Brooklyn melting pot they are from, on Maynard and the Musties 2nd full length 'Fall On In' you’re going to hear lots of world-wide influences on the sound. Bits of military marches, the odd klezmer riff here and there, a bossanova bit. Likewise they stretch the traditional definition of a rock & roll band with strings, wind instruments, etc. This is the groups fourth album and the second produced by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel.
Joe Maynard (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Mo Botton (lead guitar), Dikko Faust (trombone), Naa Koshie Mills (fiddle), Jonathan Gregg (pedal steel), Eric Ambel (lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals), Mike Randall (lead guitar), Chet Hartin (bass, keyboards, accordion), Pierre Scoffoni (drums).
Couch By Couchwest 2013 Alumni Maynard and the Musties have just released a new EP 'West'
A very cool assortment of songs that highlight this Brooklyn bands unigue style. Catch them live May 31st at Hank's Saloon 46 3rd Ave (corner of Atlantic Ave), Brooklyn NY
No cover, just swamp-rocky good times!
1. Big News, I'm Cryin'
2. Tin of Tea
3. The Killer Inside Me
4. Love, My Love
4-songs recorded at Bruce Harvie's Olgabowl Studio, Orcas Island, WA in October of 2012. released 21 May 2013 Joe Maynard - vocals, guitar Bruce Harvie - lead guitar, lap steel, mandolin, tamborine Melody Funk - bass, background vocals Andrew Moore - Drums
Couch By Couchwest 2013 - Maynard & The Musties – Pine Box
The lazy Susan of Musties includes Joe Maynard guitar,
vocals; Naa Koshie Mills, fiddle; Jacques-Maurice Botton, lead guitar, vocals;
Dikko Faust, trombone; Alan Young, bass; John McQueenie, Chet Hartin drums;
Pierre Scoffoni, drums; David Gould, drums. The album, 'So Many Funerals' had Jim Thomas on Drums; Dennis Shealy, bass; Ryan Adams, lap-steel & piano
on Elvis Museum
Maynard
moved to New York City from Nashville in 1981 to attend art school. He quickly
adjusted into the freaky surroundings of the then dilapidated and vibrant New
York art scene, and was a painter for well over a decade. Gradually his art
became full of words and he found himself simply writing fiction and publishing
a couple of xeroxed "zines." He then found himself working at
Christies Auction House, and finally in the book department of that glitzy
establishment, where he no longer had time to finish his increasingly lengthy
fiction pieces. He had always played guitar, if poorly, and songs were
generally quicker to write. The guitar was also a comfort zone, reminding him,
in a fuzzy, romanticized way, of his childhood in Nashville.
Cheap Cigar released February 2012
The Musties are a nexus of friends, largely in the book or
publishing or printing trade... and one used to be a librarian. Most are also
southern transplants (one being from the south of France). Naa Koshie Mills,
ex-librarian, New Orleans ex-pat, walked into Maynard's book shop that he once
had in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. They instantly hit it off, and have
been friends and musical collaborators for about 8 years, once calling
themselves The Millerite-Redeemers. Maynard and Mo Jepson have known each other
since the 1990s. Maynard watched Mo's progressive musical ventures, No No Bun
Bun, singing solo at open mics, and later the band Mr. MacGregor. At one point
Mo asked Maynard if he wanted to come to a Mr. MacGregor rehearsal and play
songs with them. Together with Naa Koshie, and the late, great Drew Glackin,
Maynard and the Musties were born.
Soon after, Maynard sought out his own band, as the
MacGregor fellers were increasingly unavailable due to marriages, babies and
such. Then, he found Dikko Faust, a letter-press printer he had known for
years, had indulged himself as a middle-age crisis gift to himself, trombone
lessons. Formerly a percussionist, one will notice in Cheap Cigar noises
emanating from the trombone section, that one would normally not expect (Miles
of Broadway, Marfa, 17 Broken Candles). From playing gigs with Jeph Duarte and
the Newton Gang, Joe added the Newton Gang's Chet Hartin at bass, and later
brother Gordon Hartin on steel. He also added longtime friend John McQueenie as
part time drummer, stealing him away from his Jazz project, Combat Jazz, where
McQueenie plays saxophone. They also added Pierre Scoffoni on drums, who came
to New York from Aix-en-Provance for grad school at NYU.
Maynard had briefly met Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, as he
is co-owner of The Lakeside Lounge where they often play, but had also long
admired Roscoe's work with the obvious big acts such as Joan Jett and Steve
Earle, but foremost was a fan of his production work with The Blood Oranges and
Chip Robinson, who was a a close buddy of Maynard's late roommate Drew Glackin.
(Roscoe and Chip did a very eloquent and memorable dobro and guitar duet at
Drew's memorial). After hearing Chip's record Mylow, Maynard was certain that
he wanted to work with Roscoe. Maynard emailed Ambel, and Ambel scheduled a
lunch meeting at Cowboy Technical, where they listened to Tom Waits and talked
about music, gear and studio logistics. As coincidence would have it, Ambel
moved into Maynard's neighborhood about 3 blocks away, and lunch meetings are
now a fairly regular thing. Maynard thinks of Ambel as both a coach, friend,
and pretty much a member of the Musties.
Ambel's influence has been huge, including suggestions at rehearsals,
suggesting gear and whatnot, and describing the band as such: "You've got
your rhythm section, consisting of Joe, drums and bass, and your weirdos: Naa
Koshie, Mo and Dikko." Also a big mentor over the years has been Mike
Randall, a writer and film maker who Maynard knows from his 'zine days.
Randall, a bonafide music school graduate, has an encyclopedic knowledge of
country music and country guitar riffs.
