Hunger Mountain Boys/The Wiyos

Show Description

Rudy Valee meets Django Reinhardt in The Wiyos' mix of Old Timey American music - vaudevillian ragtime blues, early swing, jugband and old time country. A trio comprised of three vocals, washboard/harmonica/kazoo, guitar, and upright bass, The Wiyos transport listeners back to a time before TV and mass-media were the main sources of entertainment, to the days when music could be heard on live radio and at community dances, juke joints and house parties. Incorporating elements of physical comedy and theatricality, The Wiyos create an interactive show in the tradition of vaudevillian performers like Fats Waller, Spike Jones and Uncle Dave Macon. "Hailing from Brooklyn, New York... The Wiyos blew my musical mind. Think of the [Asylum Street] Spankers crossed with vaudeville performers, plus a dash of Reverend Gary Davis and Skip James thrown in for good measure...At times as I listened to this talented trio I swear I was watching them in black and white. From covering songs by Louis Armstrong, the Memphis Jug Band, Blind Boy Fuller, the Washboard Wonders (and many others) to creating their own unique originals, the Wiyos are bringing an almost lost generation of music into a new era complete with old-time souls to truly expand anyone's musical experience." - Folk Wax/ Blues Wax September 2004
"It's hillbilly touched with hokum and ragtime, with Appalachian folk always looming somewhere, close or distant, in the background. The result is a kind of rural vaudeville music...For all their looking backward, they're too smart to indulge themselves in stale, needless duplication and repetition. They're good, they're having loads of fun and they choose solid material from both source recordings and their own in-the-tradition compositions... If you aren't careful, the HMBs will get you to believe in time travel.” - Rambles.NET “This duet is ready to take lovers of bluegrass and early country music by storm. Their show is alive with the spirit of the early performers, and you can feel their love for what they do. Entertaining teamwork; first class musicianship and singing; good, heartfelt and sometimes funny material, with some excellent new songs in the old style. What a combination! It makes me wish they had a 15-minute radio show I could listen to every day. - Pete “Dr. Banjo” Wernick