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The
Retrobates at Rancho Nicasio January 2014, L-R
Dale Alstrom, Ray “Slim” Green,
Greg “Doghouse” Dunn, Emily Bonn, Pete
Lind, Fiddle Ray Landsberg, John Tuttle, Mylos
“Boogie” Sonka |
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Kevin
McConnell, Mylos Sonka, Bryan Adams, Ray Landsberg,
Bing Nathan, Garry Williams, Ray Green, Bob Akers at
the Union Street Fair, San Francisco, 2010 |
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Mylos,
Bryan, Kevin |
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Bryan,
Ray Landsberg, Johnny Cuviello (The Texas Drummer
Boy) |
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Our Trailboss in the latest open-heel
cowboy slippers |
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Zee Zee and Spex
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Want
to see more pictures?
Click
to see the Lone Star Retrobates on Facebook.
Oh, and friend us if
you like
us—or at least like us. |
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The
Lone Star Retrobates is a boot-scootin’ wingtips-flyin’ dance
band specializing in authentic West Coast Swing. If
Jazz is America’s musical taproot, then this
roadhouse-swing fusion is its west-facing branch.
Featuring
trumpet, sax, twin fiddles, both standard and pedal
steel guitars, drums and standup bass, rich four-
and five-part vocal harmonies and even trick yodeling
on demand, the Retrobates sashay from hot swing
to honkytonk. Let’s say Ella and The Inkspots
were to gig with Billy Jack Wills at the corner
of Louis Jordan and Ray Price, and say Johnny Mercer
and the Pied Pipers were sitting in — that’s
the Retrobates in a nutshell. Oh, and with laughing
gas piped in — these guys have a lot of fun.
The
Retrobates show pleases all comers: retro-roots
for the youth, jump-boogie for the hipsters, classic
swing with new arrangements for granddad, and good
tight original arrangements and vocal harmony for
the many musicians who like to drop by and sit
in on their shows. If they are not zootin’ it
they’ll like as not be rootin’-tootin’ it
or sliding easy-like into a belt buckle polisher.
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With
a freshly retooled show featuring a kicking all-star
horn section — each horn man a bandleader in
his own right — the Retrobates are making a
stir in the Bay Area alt-country and retro-roots
scene, with bragging rights on singer-songwriter
Emily Bonn, swing veteran Mylos “Boogie” Sonka
and big-band vocalist Ray Green. |
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In addition to fronting their own groups, Retrobates
alumni have been band members or recorded with Wills
brothers Billy Jack and Bob, Tex Beneke, Jimmie Rivers,
Alvino Rey, Junior Brown, Freddie Martin, Ray Price,
Bill Monroe, The Neville Brothers, The Sky Blue Band,
Louis Bellson, Kinky Friedman, Frank Wakefield, The
San Francisco Starlight Orchestra, Dan Hicks, the
Hot Club of San Francisco, Lavay Smith, Steve Lucky
and the Rhumba Bums, and many, many others.
They've made many radio and TV appearances, and
have been featured at many west coast shindigs, including
the Western Regional and the Northwest Regional Folklife
Festivals, the San Diego and San Francisco Folk Festivals,
the Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival and the California
State Fair. They played a seven-year engagement at
Paul’s Saloon in San Francisco.
Then for 6½ years they circled up the
wagons monthly at Marin’s premiere
hotspot, the 19 Broadway Niteclub in Fairfax. They
recently did a six-month engagement at the historic
23 Club in Brisbane. For the past three years they
have been packing the dancers into the scenic Presidio
Yacht Club near Sausalito, playing second Sunday
afternoons monthly. They also currently appear regularly
at
Rancho Nicasio in West Marin County.
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Mylos
“Boogie” Sonka,
the Retrobates trail boss, plays both
steel and standard guitars, as well as the fiddle
and tiple.
He sings all vocal parts, though seldom at once.
He has been an ace fancy yodeler since the tragic
barbed-wire high jump accident. His main interest
is western swing music, though back in the day
he performed with bluegrass legend Bill
Monroe, toured
up and down the West Coast with The Frank
Wakefield Band, and co-founded the seminal California bluegrass
band High Country. He played with the jump vocal
swing group On
the Air over the years and with
Dick Oxtot's Western Swing Express, and
chopped Freddie Green-style rhythm guitar with
the 17-piece Ray
Simpson Big Band. He
was inducted into the Western Swing Hall of
Fame in 2012.
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Emily “Zee
Zee” Bonn leads her own band,Emily
Bonn and the Vivants, and met the Retrobates
backstage when they shared billing at a festival.
They got to jamming and soon discovered she wanted
to sing more swing and the Retrobates wanted her
in their big-band-style harmony mix. Emily honed
her original songs from busking in San Francisco
BART stations, performing with her erstwhile all-female
honky-tonk band, The Whoreshoes to touring Europe,
the South and Canada with The Vivants. She currently
makes frequent appearances in Bay Area clubs and
festivals where she has become a popular opener for
touring Americana artists such as J.D. McPherson,
Wayne Hancock and Della Mae. As a featured vocalist
with the Lone Star Retrobates, she finds inspiration
from such pre-rock legends as Bob Wills, The Boswell
Sisters and Louis Jordan. |
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“Fiddle” Ray
Landsberg, our musical professor, is
a pint-sized saddle pal with ten gallons of talent.
He has played with many well-known jazz and country
artists. In the jazz field these have included
Bart Bales, Dick Oxtot, Barbara Lashley, and
Norma Teagarden. In country: Pat
Cloud, Rhythm on the Range, and Fred
Maddox. He also produced
and appeared on the Melissa Collard CD, Time
Changes Everything. Ray's fiddling has been
influenced by Bob Wills and Louis Armstrong.
His deadpan humor, often impossible to detect,
is featured on Mal Sharpe's comedy record, The
Meaning of Life, on Rhino Records. He is
not on a record with Norton Buffalo but met him
once. Recently Ray has recorded with Paul
Mehling's Hot Club of San Francisco, Dan Hicks,
the Monogram
Boys, and the San Francisco
Starlight Orchestra. |
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John
Tuttle moved west to California in
the 1970s. He is an award-winning songwriter and
brings an array of talents to the Retrobates: he
is a solid four-to-the-floor rhythm man and he knows
his way around big-band style swing vocal harmony—and
he switch hits on accordion or boogie-woogie piano
as required. John can frequently be heard playing
around northern California and Nevada with the Quake
City Jug Band (www.quakecityjugband.com).
His previous associations include The Jazz
City Singers, The Les
Moore Band, and Little Mo. |
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John
Bowman at Bowman Sound—A
kind of a nice feller for a cowpoke to know,
John not only lassoed us into his studio, but
his PA
wrangling has cut trouble off at the pass for
us on a Gig From Sonic Hell or two, and we’re
much obliged. He is so good he makes us sound
better than we actually are! He has been doing
live sound and recording since he was a teenager,
from reel-to-reel to digital. He is a few days
older than Mylos, which the Trailboss finds
somehow comforting. Check out: www.bowmannet.net |
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Multi-instrumentalist
Dale Alstrom has had his arrangements and compositions
performed
by numerous symphony orchestras, vocal ensembles
and swing, jazz and rock bands. He has played with
numerous big bands, including Freddie Martin,
Alvino Rey, Ray Price and his Cherokee Cowboys, Tex
Beneke,
Louis Bellson and Walt Tolleson as well as spending
a number of years playing and singing with various
lounge groups in the Reno/Las Vegas circuit and Hawaii.
He has played for many name acts such as Bob Hope,
Jack Benny and Steve Allen. A bandleader in his own
right, he is known by many as "Fairfax Sax",
and has lead Dale Alstrom’s Jazz
Society for over 30 years. Dale and his
ensemble can frequently be heard with his daughter
Alison Alstrom, a well-known Bay Area jazz singer. |
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Ray “Idaho Slim” Green on
trumpet and vocals. Ray has headed up his own outfit,
the Ray Green Band, for the past ten years.
He performs regularly as a big band vocalist with
the Ray Simpson Band, with On
the Air, and channels
Louis Jordan equally well.
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Barry
Lowenthal has recorded and toured with several
San Francisco Bay Area bands and artists including
two albums
and a national tour with Steele Breeze. He has
also recorded and performed with The KBC Band (Paul
Kantner, Marty Balin and Jack Cassidy) as well
as the acclaimed blues artist Alvin Youngblood
Heart. Barry lives in Marin County, CA. and has
a rehearsal studio in nearby Terra Linda where
the Taz rehearse. |
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Oakland
native Stuart Yasaki is a multi-instrumentalist
and vocalist who specializes
in the music of the 20’s, 30’ and 40’s.
He has performed with many Bay Area small groups
and big bands, including The Musician’s Warehouse
Big Band featuring Louie Bellson, Bob Enos Soundwave,
and the J-Town Jazz Ensemble. For many years he fronted
the Stuart Yasaki Big Band, a group dedicated to
the preservation of the traditional dance band. He
can occasionally be seen playing latin music, rock
and roll, country, Hawaiian, and even Italian music.
As he’ll tell you, if you run in to him frequently, “You
have to travel in better circles.” |
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The
Rhythm Guitar Rotation: Originally Kevin,
our take-off guitar man, covered rhythm guitar,
but when he soloed, Fiddle Ray and Mylos would
have to cover the job with cheesy fake rhythm chops
on fiddle and steel. Several top-notch archtop
rhythm guitar players, doubtless horrified, started
asking to sit in, so it has evolved into a seat
held down variously by Bob Wilson (who
once recorded with Merle Travis),
Bill DeKuiper (Swing Shift, On
the Air,
Hot
House Swing Band, and others), Don Burnham (band
leader of Lost
Weekend Western Swing Band), and occasionally Dick
Wilson (who
once recorded with Duane Eddy), or our own genius
webmaster-photographer Victor Landweber (website).
You just never know. And Kevin? He's happier than
a gopher
in
soft dirt because he gets to do more fills behind
the vocals and join in on riffs with the horn section. |
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The
Retrobates have played TV and radio shows, weddings and
wine tastings, folk festivals from Seattle to San Diego,
county and state fairs, venues ranging from the elegant
San Francisco Fairmont and St. Francis Hotels to South-of-Market
skuzz bars and juke joints—and most everything in
between. Here’s a sampling of some
we’d prefer to remember:
California State Fair Sacramento
Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival
Northwest Regional Folk Festival, Seattle WA
Western Regional Folk Festival CA
Bill Graham’s Shoreline Amphitheater w/ Patsy Montana
Oakland Festival of the Arts
San Benito and Sonoma County Fairs
San Diego Folk Festival concert and workshops
S.F. Folk Festival, Fort Mason—concert and guitar workshop
Jack London Square Oakland mayor’s rally
San Francisco State University concert
Luther Burbank Arts Center concert
Annual Stern Grove Concerts
Tuolumne County Wild West Film Festival
Grand National Rodeo—Cow Palace, San Francisco
KPFA-FM the “Midnight Special”
KQED-TV with Lone Star—San Francisco Public Library Benefit
East Bay Community Access TV—“On Stage” program with
Lone Star
KQED-FM - Sedge Thompson’s “West Coast Weekend”
KKUP-FM, Cupertino CA
Moscone Center SF
Cast party for “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”
Marlo Thomas birthday party, with Tommy Tunes
Int’l Singer Sewing Machine Convention
Francis Ford Coppola filmcrew vineyard campout—filmed for documentary
Cascade Ranch dance-BBQ, Ano Nueva State Park
Campari Corporation party, Presidio Log Cabin, San Francisco
Napa-Sonoma-Marin:
The Seahorse, Sausalito
Travis Marina Bar & Grill (AKA Presidio Yacht Club)
Rossi’s 1906 Club, Napa
Twin Oaks Roadhouse
Perry’s, Fairfax
19 Broadway, Fairfax
Fairfax Lodge
Little Switzerland, Sonoma CA
Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
Old Western Saloon, Point Reyes
Rancho Nicasio, CA
Redwood Empire Swing Dance Club
Rosebud’s, Benecia CA
San Rafael Elks Lodge
Silverado Country Club and Resort
Sweetwater, Mill Valley CA
San Francisco and Peninsula:
23 Club and Dick’s Tower Brisbane CA
Fairmont and St. Francis Hotels
Fort Mason Plowshares concert with Patsy Montana
Lucky Luke’s, North Beach
Mariott’s Great America
One Market Plaza
Owl & Monkey
Paul’s Saloon, San Francisco—8 years as the house band
Pier 23 on Embarcadero
SF Scottish Rites Temple Western Dance Night
SF Public Library Artists Series
The Waterfront
Verdi Club's Woodchopper's Ball
East Bay and beyond:
Ashkenaz Summer Swing Dance Series
Bear’s Lair, UCB
Breakaway Dance Club
Freight & Salvage
Kensington Western Days, CA—Lone Star
Olympia Tavern, Fresno
Petty Officer’s Club, Alameda Naval Air Station
Terrace Room, Lake Merritt Hotel, Oakland
Western Swing Society, Sacramento
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Lone
Star at the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco,
December 13, 1990. Standing:
Bruce Stelter, Johnny Cuviello,Mylos
Sonka, Joe Yamamoto. Kneeling: Piper Heisig, Vance
Terry
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Billy “Longhead” Wilson—steel,
Mylos Sonka—guitar, Bruce Stelter—guitar,
Ray Landsberg—fiddle, Piper Heisig—bass |
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Lone
Star at the Freight and Salvage, L-R
Tony Marcus, Paul Scott, Larry Lyons, Mylos Sonka |
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Lone
Star at
Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival, 1981, L-R
Brian Godchaux, Tony Marcus, Paul Scott,
Mylos Sonka, Larry Lyons
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Mylos
with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Bean
Blossom, Indiana, 1967. L-R: Byron Berline, Lamar
Grier, Bill Monroe, Mylos Sonka. |
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Mylos
sitting in with the Texas Playboys in April 1999, Leon
Springs, Texas. L-R: Herb Remington, Leon Chambers,
Mylos Sonka, Bob Rosenquist, Casey Dickens, Louise
Rowe, Bobby Boatright. Photo by Barbara Martin |
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A
recording of Mylos playing with Biil
Monroe is posted on
our YouTube page.
Mylos
says: “I
was in a local bluegrass band called
the Dixboro County Brakemen and was with
Bill and the boys at a workshop and a
radio interview that afternoon to publicize
the show. In the course of chatting about
this and that, Bill asked Lamar Grier
and me to come onto his band bus and
asked me to sing something with him.
Then he asked me to come onstage that
evening and do a couple of guest numbers.
The guitar man, Mitchell Land, was a
good guitar player but did not play athletically,
and after my song Bill leaned over and
asked, ‘Why don't you stay out
here with us and help keep rhythm?’ Of
course he didn’t have to ask twice.
I was in my early 20s and God Himself
had just asked me to play rhythm guitar!
The other guest was mandolinist Joe Fineman,
a bandmate of mine who sang like Ira
Louvin. Bill asked me to fill in on guitar
on a couple of shows in Bean Blossom
the following weekend which I was happy
to do.” |
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Ray “Slim’' Green
Emily Bonn
Larry Lyons
Bruce Stelter
Pete Charles
Bryan “Spex” Adams
Tony Marcus
Stephanie Davis
Kevin Wimmer
“Fiddle” Ray Landsberg
Mark Mazerek
Bryan Godchaux
Joe Yamamoto
Paul Shelasky
Jeremy Cohen
Vance
Terry
Gene Tortora
Billy “Longhead” Wilson
Willy Williams
Jay Riley
David Philips
Joe Goldmark
Mylos Sonka
Bob Wilson
Mylos Sonka
Dick Wilson
Kevin McConnell
"Dirty" Richard Sazlow
Joe Kyle Jr.
Pud Zippers (Paul Scott)
Bethany Raine
Beth Weill
Piper Heisig
Greg Dunn
Bing Nathan
Steve Strauss
Phil Wood
Ray “Idaho Slim” Green |
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“Snakebite” Ken Jacobs
Jim Rothermel
Spencer Hollis
Brian Campbell
Steve Deutsch
“Curly” Bob Akers
Dale Alstrom
Pete Devine
Barry Lowenthal
Johnny Cuviello
Peter Lind
Chris Carpiniello
Bing Nathan
Piper Heisig
Tom “Pep” Peplinski
John Tuttle
Olivier Zyngier
Don Burnham (of Lost
Weekend)
Victor Landweber (LSR
webmaster)
Bill DeKuiper
Billy “Longhead” Wilson
Bob Beifuss
Sylvia Herold
Connie Doolan
Erika Alstrom
Piper Heisig
Patsy Montana (wrote “I want to be a cowboy’s sweetheart” and
was the first female million seller in country music)
Fred Maddox (The Maddox Brothers and Rose)
Lonesome Chuck Wheeler
D. L. Menard (The Cajun Hank Williams)
Rusty Richards (The Sons of the Pioneers)
Don Burnham (Band Leader of Lost Weekend)
Mitch Woods (Rocket 88s)
Peter “Pop” Walsh (Stompy Jones)
Scott Lawrence (Stompy Jones)
Carolyn Martin (The Time Jumpers)
Pam Brandon (Lost Weekend)
Jim Passard (The Lost Cats)
Rusty Evans (Ring of Fire)
Shorty Joe Quartuccio
Melissa Collard
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BLUEGRASS
BREAKDOWN MAGAZINE:
“Lone Star is an acoustic western swing band. This kind
of music works well acoustically and Lone Star does
an especially nice job of it. The double fiddling of
Tony Marcus and Brian Godchaux is beautifully tight
and evocative. The sweet soaring sound of twin fiddles
is as pretty a tone as you’ll hear in country
music. Mylos Sonka has always been one of the Bay Area’s
best country singers and it’s good to hear his
stylish sounds in such a good band. I like Lone Star’s
non-imitative but dedicated and respectful treatment
of older country music.” |
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—
Robbie Macdonald, “The 1981 Fall Grass
Valley Festival in Retrospect,” Bluegrass
Breakdown, vol 7 No 6 Nov/Dec 1981 |
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MAL
SHARPE: “I myself, aside from running a production
company, am a trombone player and play with traditional
New Orleans
jazz bands. Many “trad” players have, over
the years, sat in with or been part of Lonestar. Traditonal
jazz is one of the main tributaries of Southwestern music,
so it should be no surprise that traditional musicians
and swing musicians blend in with the Lonestar sound.
It’s not at all unusual to find trumpet, clarinet,
and trombone players from many of the Bay Area jazz bands
dropping by Paul’s Saloon to jam with Lonestar
on a Sunday evening. These sessions always seem tremendously
healthy for both styles of music. I highly recommend
the Lonestar show for its musicianship, vocal harmony
and the joy that they exude while performing. They are
a very entertaining band to watch… Recently I used
several members of the band on a KQED TV production entitled “Hello,
Columbus.” [which aired nationally on PBS]. They
perform very
thoroughly
under
unusual
shooting conditions, but I guess with a name like Lonestar
they should have an agreeable affiliation with shooting!”” |
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— “Man
on the Street” Mal Sharpe is an icon
of broadcast and TV production. “Hello,
Columbus” won
a Grammy that year. |
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FAITH
PETRIC: “I have known Mylos Sonka and Lonestar
for over ten years….
The music they perform is of cultural and historical
importance. To hear it live, performed by such top musicians
as comprise Lonestar will enormously inform and enrich
the lives of all who hear them.” |
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—
Faith Petric, SF Folk Music Center and Sing Out!
Magazine,
1987 |
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TONY
RICE: “This is wonderful music. There’s various groups
that try to play it, that have all the chops but not
the feeling and the understanding of it. You guys are
the real thing, and it’s real good to know that
this music is being done the way it should be. It’s
a great band.” |
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—
Tony Rice at Paul’s Saloon, San Francisco |
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BILL
HOOL: “I
appreciate hearing musicians having a good time working
things out. Too slick I don't
think is all that fun (though your ‘slick’ sounds
good too). Watching you guys interacting with the music
and each other while having fun provides a really enjoyable
experience. I could go for more. I don't think musicians
on your level can do too much on-the-spot improvising,
rearranging, redoes, and noodling around—you are
at that level. The audience feels a part of something
being
constructed by great artists.” |
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— Bill
Hool, one of our greatest fans |
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BARBARA
MARTIN: “I
know these guys—they are great players. Check
’em out!” |
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— Barbara
Martin, Western Swing Monthly |
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PAUL
LIBERATORE, MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL: “What
comes through … is a genuine love of this brand
of authentic Americana. For fans of western swing,
the complete CD will be something to look forward to.” |
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— Paul
Liberatore, Marin Independent Journal music
critic, reviewing the Retrobates EP release.
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MITCH
WOODS: “This is the best band in the County!” |
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— Mitch
Woods (Mitch Woods and the RRocket 88s) June
2011, Presidio Yacht Club, Sausalito
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CAROLYN
MARTIN: “To Mylos, Thanks to you and your fabulous
Lone Star Retrobates. You guys are wonderful and super
talented… a great band!” |
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—Carolyn
Martin, Time Jumper and Hall of Famer, July
2011
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JOSE
SEGUE: “Louis Jordan with Stetsons and steel
guitar—They play cowjazz, honky-tonk, bop, swing
and whatever else they can get away with as long as
people are hittin' the dance floor.” |
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—Jose
Segue of Hickswithsticks.com
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“Thank you for making the Country Western Dance
and Firehouse Chili Cook-off a HUGE success. Thank you
so much for playing… everybody loved you!” |
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—
Abby and the Bodega Bay Grange Hall Committee |
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“Just
an over the top performance. I believe you guys do
this every other night, and it sure shows.
You guys are consummate professionals. I know that I
speak for everyone who attended last night when I say
that you guys were awesome! Please pass the praise and
thanks of Fairfax Lodge 556 to your band-- for an unforgettable
night of music!” |
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—
Michael Paynter, Larkspur |
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Posted
on the Lonestar Retrobates’ Facebook Wall: “Wow
you guys are so good I felt like I was in a movie. Pristine
accomplishments! Great Show. You’re bound for the
Waldorf Astoria I think” |
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—
Beebee Simmons, a Bay Area TV producer |
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“YEEEHAWWW!!!
Here come those Retrobates again!! …Join Marin's
premier Western Swing/Barnyard Boogie band for
dancin' & a-carryin' on…” |
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—Local
“Music Vibe” Online Events Calendar |
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“You
guys are definitely the band of my dreams. Love ya!” |
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—Pollyanna
Jitterbug Jones, posted on the Lonestar Retrobates
Facebook wall |
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“I
hate country music, but I love you guys!” |
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—And
bless their hearts, this is one we get real often
at the bandstand. |
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“The
Lonestar Retrobates - This fantastic Western Swing
band is a must see act. But be prepared:
you will have to fight your way
onto the dancefloor wherever they play, because they
know how to swing! |
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—Miracle
Mule Newsletter #2 June 15, 2011 |
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“For
a rip roarin’ good time join
The Lonestar Retrobates when they play at 19 Broadway
in Fairfax. They play barnyard bebop and swingin’ cowboy
jazz. |
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—Larry
Carlin – Carlton’s Corner
June 2010 |
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“Emily
sounds like she comes from Memphis Tennessee or Macon
Georgia on her
rootsy debut CD, “Songs from Alabama
Street.” The young multi-instrumentalist
plays guitar and banjo and sings in a laconic drawl that’s
as homespun as a gingham bonnet. She’s
been mentioned in the same breath as Gillian Welch, Neko
Case and the Be Good Tanyas. On the strength of the seven
engaging original songs on this auspicious first album
of acoustic Americana, she deserves to be in that company.
Click
to read the entire review. |
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—Paul
Liberatore, “That Was 2011 – The
Year in Review,” reviewing the 10 best
local albums of 2011 |
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“A
world class dance band!” |
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—Doc
Kraft, Bay Area bandleader - January 26, 2013
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“Western swing veterans … boasting
a boogie-woogie attitude.” |
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—Charlie
Swanson, Pacific Sun, December 27, 2017 |
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