5th Annual Brooklyn Country Music Festival
 

 
The 5th Annual Brooklyn Country Music Festival
September 19, 2008
Day 1 @ Southpaw



September 20, 2008
Day 2 @ Southpaw



Andy Friedman &
The Other Failures

 
 "The erudite redneck"
- Boston Globe

"A veritable hoe down of cynical lyrics and tongue in cheek humour."
-Americana UK



The Flanks

"The Flanks just blew my mind . . . One of the most wonderful shows I've ever seen."  
— Brooklyn Vegan



Alex Battles &
The Whisky Rebellion

featuring
Sammo

"Brilliant. Lowbrow."
- New York Magazine


"Here is a man who stands up and delivers with an effortlessness that will leave most audience's jaws planted firmly to the spit and sawdust floorboards beneath them. Picture a buoyant, jovial 'Man in Black' and you'd be somewhere close to the levels of intensity packed in to a Whiskey Rebellion live performance."
- Rebel Spirit Music


Jack Grace Band

"NYC someday will brag about its great legends of country music, that's right we said country, and among those names will be the engaging, hardworking, witty, and schmoozin' and boozin' Grace."
- Village Voice

"His prized possession is a 1947 Gibson acoustic guitar, autographed by his heroes, the country star Merle Haggard and the bluegrass legend Doc Watson.  Make no mistake: Jack Grace is an old-fashioned country musician."
– New York Times



Brownbird Rudy Relic
 
"Incredible...the best new traditional bluesman on the scene today!"
- Roots Review Magazine

"Three Words: Amazing. Amazing. Amazing."
- BluesBeat


The Defibulators

"No yee-haws or any other hoots or yawps were held back...Like a hoedown band from a Warner Brothers cartoon, they played raucous and slightly surreal 'whackabilly"
-The New York Times



Jessica Rose &
The High Life


Sean Kershaw &
The New Jack Ramblers


The Newton Gang


PIE!


M Shanghai String Band

"Absolutely timeless music...the most joyous musical celebration of the year"
-Albany Times-Union
 

"Vigourous, heartfelt, acoustic country with all the fixins!"
-Time Out New York




Dock Oscar &
The Ambassadors
of Love



 

Both days will be hosted by

the one and only Shafer Hall!

Both days will be DJed by

WNYU's Honky Tonk Radio Girl!
The 5th Annual
Brooklyn Country Music Festival
@ Southpaw

DAY 1
Friday Sept 19, 2008

7pm: Doors open.
WNYU DJ Honky Tonk Radio Girl

8pm: The Newton Gang

9pm: Brownbird Rudy Relic

930pm: The Defibulators

1030pm: The Flanks

1130pm: Andy Friedman & The Other Failures

Admission: $10
(advance tickets)
Southpaw

125 5th Ave., Brooklyn, NY, 11215
718.230.0236




The 5th Annual
Brooklyn Country Music Festival
@ Southpaw


DAY 2
Saturday Sept 20, 2008

5pm: Doors open.
WNYU DJ Honky Tonk Radio Girl

6pm: Dock Oscar & The Ambassadors of Love

7pm: M Shanghai String Band

8pm: Sean Kershaw & The New Jack Ramblers

9pm: Jessica Rose & The High Life

10pm: Jack Grace Band

11pm: Alex Battles & The Whisky Rebellion
featuring Sammo

Admission: $10
(advance tickets)
Southpaw

125 5th Ave., Brooklyn, NY, 11215
718.230.0236





Crain's New York Business
Village Voice

No Depression
Last year, Brooklyn saw the birth of three country music events: The Brooklyn Country Music Festival, The Kings County Opry, and the CasHank Hootenanny Jamboree. These events struck a chord with fans as far away as Connecticut. They loved the stark edgy music of the bands, many of whom were influenced by country singers of the 1940s and 1950s.

-Tommy Fernandez, Crain's New York

The Brooklyn Country Music Festival hosted 40 bands over eight days, none getting paid more than what organizer and songwriter Alex Battles collected in a basket after each set. When you're playing country and bluegrass in New York City, however, it's hard to expect much more. "We play for free beer and girls who smile at us," says Battles, a tireless organizer who performs under the name Whisky Rebellion.For Battles — an Ohio transplant who's been in New York for 10 years — "Brooklyn Country" is a sort of subgenre, a music for Midwestern transplants, steeped in the '70s but with a punk ethos, grimier than the musicianship of the Village bluegrass circles.

- Kurt Gottschalk, Village Voice
As with most unlikely renaissances, Brooklyn's current Cash - Hank - Hag - Buck - Willie fixation has it its core an unlikely anti-hero. In this case it's Alex Battles, a 33-year-old singer, banjo-picker, and music publishing staffer. Battles, who began his New York musical career in a Lower East Side comedy club playing the Village People's "In the Navy" on the banjo, says the reason an event like the Cash birthday bash became a destination for both musicians as well as hipsters is simple: "Everybody loves Johnny Cash."

-Robert Baird, No Depression