Penny's Farm

There are gates to the city of American roots music, entryways that lead in new generations every decade. One of these gates is the Grateful Dead, whose love of folk and roots music has led many younger fans back to the source. But what gates did the Dead themselves use to come to the city? The answer lies with Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band, whose rough-and-tumble roots music in the 1960s directly inspired countless bands like The Lovin Spoonful, Country Joe and the Fish, and The Dead via Bob Weir. Now, just over 50 years since Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur first joined up, they re back together with a brand-new album on Kingswood Records (Kaia Kater, Michaela Anne). Penny s Farm is a laid- back romp through some of Jim and Geoff s favorite roots songs. There joined here by some world-class musician friends, like pioneering steel guitarist and dobroist Cindy Cashdollar, blues fiddler Suzy Thompson, renowned composer Van Dyke Parks, and vocalist Juli Crockett (The Evangenitals). If there s a humbleness to the music, a kind of delightful restraint, that s because they re trying to prove a point. It s the same point Jim and Geoff started out to prove: that the music of the past has as much meaning today as it ever did. As Jim says, We re hoping that this album will help to remind people that folk music has a rich and deep history. And our music is still relevant in this world of technology. We believe that music from the heart is always relevant. Learning that music made from the heart is timeless is the kind of wisdom that Jim and Geoff first learned at the feet of the old masters, and it s something they d like to pass on now. But this isn t some dour re-creation; with this new album they prove that they re still having as much fun as ever. And anyway, the key to Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur s music has always been their ability to interpret the raucous back-alley and front-porch jams of yesterday into something we can all sing along to. Try to keep from joining in on Diamond Joe, or tapping along to Down on Penny s Farm, or even wiping away a tear at the sad story of Louis Collins; you can t. This is music made to be shared. To be passed on. To last.