Alex Battles presents...
To everyone who came, saw, danced, fiddled, sang along, whooped, hollered and cheered, Thank you. The 5th Annual Brooklyn Country Music Festival featured some of New York City's best original country music acts. Over two nights, it was attended by over 700 people. I have never seen a more devoted fan base. Thank you for your love. Keep following these bands. Keep on writing songs. Keep on jamming. Keep on singing. Keep on dancing. I can't wait to see you all next year. your organizer, 
Alex Battles PS: All of the above photos by Katie Kovach! |
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Alex Battles
presents the 5th Annual
Brooklyn Country Music Festival in association with absolutely no one. |
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| September 19, 2008 Day 1 @ Southpaw 
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September 20, 2008 Day 2 @ Southpaw
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Andy Friedman & The Other Failures "The erudite redneck" - Boston Globe "A veritable hoe down of cynical lyrics and tongue in cheek humour." -Americana UK |
The Flanks "The Flanks just blew my mind . . . One of the most wonderful shows I've ever seen." — Brooklyn Vegan |
Alex Battles & The Whisky Rebellion featuring Sammo "Brilliant. Lowbrow." - New York Magazine "Here is a man who stands up and delivers with an effortlessness that will leave most audience's jaws planted firmly to the spit and sawdust floorboards beneath them. Picture a buoyant, jovial 'Man in Black' and you'd be somewhere close to the levels of intensity packed in to a Whiskey Rebellion live performance." - Rebel Spirit Music |
Jack Grace Band "NYC someday will brag about its great legends
of country music, that's right we said country, and
among those names will be the engaging, hardworking,
witty, and schmoozin' and boozin' Grace." "His prized possession is a 1947 Gibson
acoustic guitar, autographed by his heroes, the
country star Merle Haggard and the bluegrass
legend Doc Watson. Make no mistake: Jack Grace is
an old-fashioned country musician." |
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Brownbird Rudy Relic "Incredible...the best new traditional bluesman on the scene today!" - Roots Review Magazine "Three Words: Amazing. Amazing. Amazing." - BluesBeat |
The Defibulators "No yee-haws or any other hoots or yawps were held back...Like a hoedown band from a Warner Brothers cartoon, they played raucous and slightly surreal 'whackabilly" -The New York Times |
Jessica Rose & The High Life The champagne of bands! With a sound from classic honky tonk to jumpin' rockabilly, Jessica Rose and her country crooning will be sure to melt your heart! |
Sean Kershaw & The New Jack Ramblers "Honkytonk
Brooklyn style is what this genre needs. Put on your cowboy boots (or take
them off) for our favorite love song 'Moonlight Eyes'"
- Playgirl "They call their music 'hi-octane honkytonk' and that sounds just about right. Mr Kershaw's energy carries the show." - NY Times |
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The Newton Gang "Rooted firmly in the stealth-outlaw tradition of their 1920s namesake, The Newton Gang sneaks up on the listener like a good Kentucky Bourbon—mellow on the intake, but fueled by a strong, soulful kick that’ll leave you sprawled in a corner at closing time, pining for the redneck childhood you never had." - Brooklyncountry.com |
PIE! |
M Shanghai String Band "Absolutely timeless music...the most joyous
musical celebration of the year"
-Albany Times-Union "Vigourous, heartfelt, acoustic country with all the fixins!" -Time Out New York |
Dock Oscar & The Ambassadors of Love |
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Both days will be hosted by
the one and only Shafer Hall who will be reading on Saturday afternoon! |
Both
days will be DJed by 
WNYU's Honky Tonk Radio Girl! |
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The
5th Annual
Brooklyn Country Music Festival @ Southpaw DAY 1 Friday Sept 19, 2008 7pm: Doors open. WNYU DJ Honky Tonk Radio Girl 8pm: The Newton Gang 9pm: Brownbird Rudy Relic 930pm: The Defibulators 1030pm: The Flanks 1130pm: Andy Friedman & The Other Failures Admission: $10 (advance tickets) Southpaw 125 5th Ave., Brooklyn, NY, 11215 718.230.0236 |
The 5th Annual Brooklyn Country Music Festival @ Southpaw DAY 2 Saturday Sept 20, 2008 5pm: Doors open. WNYU DJ Honky Tonk Radio Girl 530pm Shafer Hall 6pm: Dock Oscar & The Ambassadors of Love 7pm: M Shanghai String Band 8pm: Sean Kershaw & The New Jack Ramblers 9pm: Jessica Rose & The High Life 10pm: Jack Grace Band 11pm: Alex Battles & The Whisky Rebellion featuring Sammo Admission: $10 (advance tickets) Southpaw 125 5th Ave., Brooklyn, NY, 11215 718.230.0236 |
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| History
Alex Battles founded the Brooklyn Country Music Festival in 2004 to promote
the borough's burgeoning original music scene. Now in its fifth installment,
the Brooklyn Country Music Festival has always highlighted New York City's
finest country songwriters.
Living
in the top-40-country-radio-free zone of New York City allows local country
musicians and songwriters to create music in a sonic vacuum. Consider it
a new outlaw movement, if you will. The performers certainly do.
Previous
years:
2004 2005 2006 2007 For
further information, please contact Alex Battles: alex@whiskyrebellion.com
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| Last year, Brooklyn
saw the birth of three country music events: The Brooklyn Country
Music Festival, The Kings County Opry, and the CasHank Hootenanny
Jamboree. These events struck a chord with fans as far away as Connecticut.
They loved the stark edgy music of the bands, many of whom were influenced
by country singers of the 1940s and 1950s. -Tommy Fernandez, Crain's New York |
The Brooklyn Country
Music Festival hosted 40 bands over eight days, none getting paid
more than what organizer and songwriter Alex Battles collected in
a basket after each set. When you're playing country and bluegrass
in New York City, however, it's hard to expect much more. "We play for
free beer and girls who smile at us," says Battles, a tireless organizer
who performs under the name Whisky Rebellion.For Battles — an Ohio transplant
who's been in New York for 10 years — "Brooklyn Country" is a sort
of subgenre, a music for Midwestern transplants, steeped in the '70s
but with a punk ethos, grimier than the musicianship of the Village
bluegrass circles. - Kurt Gottschalk, Village Voice
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As with most unlikely
renaissances, Brooklyn's current Cash - Hank - Hag - Buck -
Willie fixation has it its core an unlikely anti-hero. In this
case it's Alex Battles, a 33-year-old singer, banjo-picker, and
music publishing staffer. Battles, who began his New York musical
career in a Lower East Side comedy club playing the Village People's
"In the Navy" on the banjo, says the reason an event like the Cash
birthday bash became a destination for both musicians as well as
hipsters is simple: "Everybody loves Johnny Cash." -Robert Baird, No Depression |