VOOTIE PRODUCTIONS
BOZEMAN – This fall, the Hooligans released its debut album Beggars and Thieves. It was recorded over a couple of weeks in the fall of 2012 at Yellowstone House, an 1870’s log home on the banks of the Yellowstone River.
Produced by Little Feat founder/keyboardist Bill Payne and Tom Garnsey, the nine-song recording features original material, as well as a few carefully chosen covers from Richard Thompson and Natalie Merchant, and a reworking of the Appalachian folk ballad, “Katy Cruel.”
Of special significance is “7th Daughter,” one of 17 songs co-written by Bill Payne and legendary Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter this past year. Payne’s contribution to the recording as the producer/keyboardist/singer and co-writer is significant. He brings over 40 years of performance, production and recording skills to the table, and they are evident in Beggars and Thieves.
The record also features guest spots from Tim O’Brien on fiddle, New Orleans’ own Spencer Bohren on lap steel, Jimmy Lange on keyboards, reggae great Pato Banton on vocals and Alison Garnsey on backing vocals.
The album’s tracks were recorded and engineered by Bozeman resident and Grammy Award winning artist Cornell “Doc” Wiley, who has worked with U2, Prince, and Whitney Houston. Mastering for Beggars and Thieves was completed by Gavin Lurssen of Lurssen Mastering, a world-renowned multi Grammy-award winning studio.
Beggars and Thieves comfortably and seamlessly straddles several genres of music from rock to blues, reggae to folk and Americana, all filtered through decades of live performance to create a rootsy sound unique to the Hooligans.
Genre-bending flexibility has provided countless opportunities for the Hooligans to share the stage with some of America’s finest: The Band, Burning Spear, The Wailers, Michael Franti, Rodney Crowell, String Cheese Incident, Widespread Panic, Alabama Shakes, and Hot Tuna, among many others.
Hear the Hooligans play tracks from the new record, as well as old favorites, at the Outlaw Partners’ Mountain Outlaw magazine release party at El Patron in Big Sky on Friday, Dec. 6, at 6 p.m. No cover.
Beggars and Thieves is available locally at Cactus Records in Bozeman, Rockin’ Rudys in Missoula and online at hooligansmontana.com, iTunes, and amazon.com.
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The Hooligans
Rich Robiscoe – bass guitar
Tom Garnsey – guitar/vocals
Betsy Wise – vocals
Ron Craighead – drums/vocals
Bob Britten – electric guitar/vocals
Tom Murphy – mandolin/vocals
Bill Payne – keyboardist/vocalist