BEN HOPE & THE UPTOWN OUTFIT
PETE LANCTOT & THE STRAY DOGS
Ben Hope & The Uptown Outfit are a country band based in NYC. The group, fronted by Ben Hope (from Broadway's Once) features Miles Aubrey on lead guitar and Andy Galore on bass. These days the drummer spot seems to rotate between several very talented dudes, such as John Rochette and Joe Cogen. There is no better band to drink whisky to, and no better reason to put on your cowboy boots and come out on a New York City night.
Pete Lanctot is a singer songwriter living in Brooklyn, NY. His songs are surreal and mysterious narratives often featuring sordid casts of characters who’s time, locations and origins are vague, and seem equally likely to be found in present day NYC, a Memphis juke joint of the '20s or hitchhiking a depression-era plains state highway. Musically, Pete’s songs carry on the American traditions of blues, folk and country music while avoiding reproduction and derivation, and embrace sonic experimentalism and the avant garde. Traditional blues and ballad forms are bent from their original shapes by untraditional playing techniques, droning accompaniments, and interactive free improvisation within the band. In a live setting, Pete accompanies his singing with a wide array of instruments including guitar, viola, violin, accordion and the haunting sounds of a strohviolin (a bowed string instrument where the sound is produced through a metal gramaphone-like horn). His band features a rotating cast of talented musicians and improvisers. Often utilizing very traditional blues, country and string band instrumentations (upright bass, drums, guitar, horns, banjo and pedal steel), the result is far from a polite Americana sound.
Friday, December 5th at Hank's Saloon
46 Third Avenue (at Atlantic), Brooklyn, U.S.A.
Doors at 9PM. No cover. 21+ with ID.
