MegaBand Tune of the Month:  It’s All in the Name
by Bruce Thomson

The Virginia Creepers taught a 1-credit old time music class at UNM last spring.  During the course the students were divided into bands which were then directed to develop a repertoire of about five tunes to be played at an end-of-the-semester performance.  But the first and most challenging assignment, given by Steve Huestis (banjoist & co-instructor), was to come up with a band name.  And he’s right, it’s tough to come up with a good band name.  The name goes a long ways towards identifying the character of the band, so you want it to be descriptive, but also unique and clever.

There are many southwestern old time or bluegrass bands with imaginative, interesting or otherwise remarkable names.  Most musicians at one time or another have to come up with a band name, so I thought I’d try to help them out and put some organization to the process.  Thus, I’ve picked some of the more interesting names and lumped ‘em into loose categories.  But first a disclaimer – this is simply a list of names I thought were noteworthy.  It is no reflection on the music or musicians.  And omissions don’t mean that your band name sucks horse bowel sausages (ever been to Kazakhstan?) – just that I didn’t find it as interesting as others.

The Traditional Approach – Many of the old bands were named after the leader and then a local geographical or cultural feature (i.e. Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys).  While some of the bluegrassers still use this approach, not many of the old timey bands do.  But there’re still many band names that refer to local geographical or regional characteristics.  Some of the notables include Adobe Brothers (all buildings in NM are either real or wannabe adobes), Atomic Grass (a hot band from Los Alamos), Bayou Seco (dry bayou), Big River Boys (named after the Rio Grande, called the Pickled Liver Boys by Obie Juan Adobe based on their legendary beer consumption), Jimmy Shank and the Chilitones, the Nob Hillbillies (an upscale area in Albuquerque), and the Sandia Hots (a brand of NM chile).

Imagery and Word Play – Some band names provoke vivid pictures in the mind; sometimes good, sometimes not.  Some of my favorites are the Privy Tippers (use care in the porta-potties if Dave Firestine is around), the Deming Fusiliers, Cluster Folk, and Poultry in Motion (dancing chickens?).  Would anybody attend a concert by the Grouchy Geezers (from CO), the Nabobs (from NM) and the Estrotones (from NM)?

Reference to Obscure Music & Dance Moves– I’ve noted several bands with names to dance steps or musical attributes.  These include Hands Four (from AZ), Hands Five (NM), Balance and Swing (CO), and Hey! (NM).  Perhaps most obscure is a band from CO called the Dreaded Wolftones (ask a cello player about wolftones).

Huh? – Last in my categorizations are the band names that don’t make any sense, at least at first pass.  These include the Arizona Raccoon Tours, Crustaceans, Five Dog String Band, Roaring Jelly, Ten Cats Laughing, and the Virginia Creepers (named after a weed in Peter White’s back yard).

My favorite name of the bands I’ve been in was the Totally Nude Dancing Girls.  This was a looong time before a rock band of similar name came upon the scene and made a zillion dollars.  Unfortunately, we were awful – about the only place we ever got to play was the on-campus coffee shop.  This confirms my theory that there’s no correlation between a good band name and a good band.

Information on many of these bands can be found on some of these web sites: www.folkmads.org, www.cfootmad.org, www.ffotm.net, www.tftm.org.  Watch for them and support local music.

This month’s tune is the Cuckoo’s Nest as played by Bill Northcutt on an old record I’ve got (Old Time Hoedown, Stoneway 103).  There are several versions of this tune, but this is my favorite.

ABC Notation
X:75
T:Cuckoo's Nest
N:From Bill Northcutt "Old Time Hoedown", Stoneway STY 103
N:Transcribed by Bruce Thomson
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:D
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