Smokey’s Round-up

Bio:

Smokey's Round-up has become a popular attraction on Wednesday nights at Sunny's in Redhook. Wearing a 20 gallon hat and strumming an old Gretsch guitar, Smokey Hormel belts out Cowboy songs, blues, hokum and hollars. The fiddle blows while the rock solid rythym section swaggers and swings. The local (two and four legged) patrons all agree, "When Smokey's Round-up comes to Sunny's, it sure is a hand clappin', foot stompin' good time!"

Smokey Hormel was born in Hollywood, California. As a teenager, Smokey met Jimmy Wyble, the great guitarist from Bob Wills Texas Playboys. Jimmy taught him about two-line improvisation, Charlie Christian and Western Swing music. Since then, Smokey has enjoyed a diverse 25 year musical career, playing with the likes of The Blasters, Patsy Montana, John Doe, Beck, Tom Waits, Joe Strummer, The Dixie Chicks, Neil Diamond and Johnny Cash. The idea for Smokey’s Round-up came after a Western Swing recording session for kids' TV show The Backyardigans in 2005. Smokey decided it was time to start his own Western Swing outfit. He called up some friends and said, "let's get together and play some old Bob Wills songs". That idea led to a weekly residency at Sunny's in Red Hook that is now going on it's 3rd year. Drawing mostly from songs of the 1930s, Smokey's Round-up is a swinging, red-hot Western combo. For more info about Smokey, please visit his website www.smokeyhormel.com

Charlie Burnham has been a part of New York's musical fabric for the better part of the last three decades. He usually performs on the violin. He has performed and recorded with some of the stars of American music including James 'Blood' Ulmer, Cassandra Wilson, Henry Threadgill, Peter Apfelbaum and currently, Smokey Hormel.

Tim Luntzel started playing bass by accident, and since then has played all kinds of music with all kinds of people all over the world. He counts playing with the Roundup amongst his favorites. Visit Tim's website www.luntzel.com

Andrew Borger's first insruments were pots and pans, which he enthusiastically mastered by age two, before distractions like school and speaking in sentences got in the way. After taking a break from music to pursue such diverse interests as macaroni art and recess, he started playing the drum set at age 10, and stuck with it the second time around. He first met and played with Smokey in Tom Waits' band, where on tour they discovered their mutual love of fine Western wear. ..

Member Since:

March 02, 2008

Members:

Smokey Hormel
Guitar and vocals
Charlie Burnham
Fiddle and vocals
Tim Luntzel
Bass
Andrew Borger
Drums

Influences:

Milton Brown and his musical Brownies, The Hokum Boys, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Big Bill Broonzy, Charlie Christian, Lonnie Johnson, Count Basie with Lester Young, Duke Ellington (small groups), John Lee (sonny boy) Williamson, Bill Boyd's Cowboy Ramblers, Bob Dunn's Vagabonds, Ocie Stockard and The Wanderers, Smokey Wood and his Woodchips, The Hackberry Ramblers, The Tune Wranglers, The Mississippi Sheiks, The Hoosier Hotshots, Bessie Smith, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Boswell Sisters, The Delmore Brothers, The Louvin Brothers, The Alvin Brothers, The Golden Gate Quartet, The Quintet of the hot Club of Paris with Django Reinhardt, Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, Tommy Duncan, Jimmy Wyble, Johnny Cash and the Tennesee Two, Hank Williams, The Carter Family with Chet Atkins, Bill Monroe, Patsy Montana, Cindy Walker, T Bone Walker, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Lee Allen, and the Sun, the Moon, the planets, the stars, the desert wind.

Sounds Like:

thunder on the mountain

Record Label:

Round with pretty colors and nice rope lettering