I fiddled around with playing the jug (as well as ukulele and washtub bass) in high school. I have a box bass (sort of a wooden washtub bass) and a jug in the office these days. Often, when I hear something on the radio, I’ll play along on the box bass. I feel like I’m in the band.
Or, once in a while I’ll put on the Memphis Blues Band or Gus Cannon and His Jug Stompers and play along on my jug. I’ve tried out dozens of jugs, and this brown ceramic one has the best tone.
The Memphis Jug Band is, they say in liner notes, was “…the best jug band ever recorded.” I was stunned when I first heard them (courtesy of my friend Louie). It was all so — familiar. They’re part of blues history that not many people know about. Interesting that they preceded Robert Johnson.
Going Back To Memphis by Memphis Jug Band on Grooveshark
About Lloyd Kahn
Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the
Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include
Shelter,
Shelter II (1978),
Home Work (2004),
Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008),
Tiny Homes (2012), and
Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:
Or, once in a while I’ll put on the Memphis Blues Band or Gus Cannon and His Jug Stompers and play along on my jug. I’ve tried out dozens of jugs, and this brown ceramic one has the best tone.