The CasHank
Hootenanny Jamboree
 a monthly sing-strum-and-stomp-along
dedicated to the music of
Hank Williams, Johnny Cash & more...
 



BEST OF NYC

BEST HOOTENANNY SERIES
  
 

CRITIC'S PICK


the last Thursday of every month
@ Buttermilk in Brooklyn, NY


Next CasHank is on

Thrs May 29, 2008
@ Buttermilk in Brooklyn

 
The CasHank Hootenanny Jamboree is a classic country hootenanny for folks who like to have a good time. It is operated by Alex Battles. We stick to the four chord rule so that it's easy for anyone to join in on the fun. All good singers, players and listeners are welcome. Read the guidelines and FAQ below (scroll down) for maximum enjoyment.


The CasHank Hootenanny Jamboree


last Thursday of every month
@ Buttermilk
577 5th Ave. (at 16th St.)
Brooklyn, NY
(718) 788-6297
8pm til 1am
R train to Prospect Ave.
F train to 4th Ave.
April 24, 2008
 8pm-9pm Listen to Honky Tonk Radio Girl on your way to the show!
9pm The CasHank
 May 29, 2008
 8pm-9pm Listen to Honky Tonk Radio Girl on your way to the show!
9pm The CasHank
June 26, 2008
 8pm-9pm Listen to Honky Tonk Radio Girl on your way to the show!
9pm The CasHank
 July 31, 2008
 8pm-9pm Listen to Honky Tonk Radio Girl on your way to the show!
9pm The CasHank
August 28, 2008
 8pm-9pm Listen to Honky Tonk Radio Girl on your way to the show!
9pm The CasHank
 September 25, 2008
 8pm-9pm Listen to Honky Tonk Radio Girl on your way to the show!
9pm The CasHank




This is kinda what it sounds like:
 
 

In the Pines
Corrie Beth & the CasHank Apple-Knockers
recorded live at the Manhattan CasHank
Nov 14, 2006

 Jackson
 Andrew Schmidt, Suzanne Hall & the CasHank Apple-Knockers
recorded live at the Manhattan CasHank
Nov 14, 2006

 Okie From Muskogee
Alex Battles & the CasHank Apple-Knockers
recorded live at the Manhattan CasHank
Nov 14, 2006


  This is kinda what it looks like:




If you have any questions about the CasHank Hootenanny Jamboree (including "Can we sing this song?" and "Can I bring this instrument?", please feel free to read the FAQ or email Alex Battles. If you wanna be on the mailing list for this and other events go here.

Directions to Buttermilk click here.
What we play:
  • popular classic country songs written that are easy to play and sing along to
  • containing 4 chords or fewer
  • preferably written or performed by Hank Williams or Johnny Cash or Loretta Lynn or Mother Maybelle or Lefty Frizzell or Hank Snow or Dolly Parton or Willie Nelson or Roy Acuff or . . .
  • any other country luminary A-OK too as long as the first two rules apply
What to bring:
  • a good-spirited heart & beer money
  • Your voice or any other instrument you don't plug incounts as an instrument.
  • knowledge of three chords, sometimes four
  • Learn some words (this isn't karaoke) and sing a song.
Note for jamsters:
  • If you don't like microphones and do like soloing (or just plain being able to hear yourself), check out the Ponkiesburg list for plenty of traditional acoustic bluegrass and folk music jams.  The CasHank is a really loud hootenanny where no one can hear anything but joy. Come if you like joy!
See you at the CasHank!
New York Magazine: Critic's Pick Highfalutin country-music fans will rejoice at this monthly jamboree where Johnny Cash and Hank Williams are the stars of the playlist. A stringent four-chord rule holds sway so joining the session can be as simple as singing/playing from your seat, or if you're a more seasoned instrumentalist, jumping onstage behind host Alex Battle. It all adds up to a convivial blur of expert fiddlers, plucky pluckers, and amateur crooners reprising "Ring of Fire" or "On the Road Again." Should you feel compelled to request something other than Cash or Hank, please stick to old standbys like "You Are My Sunshine" lest you be run outta town.


The Village Voice, Best of NYC, Best Hootenanny Series: The last Thursday of every month, Buttermilk hosts the CASHANK HOOTENANNY JAMBOREE, "an acoustic classic country jam" where everyone is invited to play country songs from before 1970, preferably written by Hank Williams or Johnny Cash. Songs must contain four chords or less, so eager locals, filling the room with their banjos, fiddles, washboards, and tambourines, can follow along. The rowdy strumming, along with a pitcher of Yuengling, is enough to soothe a cowboy's heartache.


They came from... well, I don't know where the hell they all came from, but they showed up--guitars, basses, banjos, fiddles, and mandolins in hand--with one purpose in mind: to sit around, have a few drinks, and bang out songs by two legends who need no last-name introduction: Johnny and Hank.

The CasHank Hootenanny Jamboree, held monthly in the platformed corner of Park Slope's Buttermilk Bar, is the brainchild of Alex Battles, who, after visiting several local old-time jams, "got tired of not knowing any of the songs." His solution: to create an open acoustic-jam gathering  comprised entirely of "new" old standards--mainly, the songs of Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. That doesn't mean the rules are strict: more than one player (myself included) did other people's songs that Johnny covered.

Like all good impromptu jams, the event was light on precision and heavy on passion. There's a certain sloppy magic to watching a group of musical strangers frowning at each other, trying to figure out chord changes, only to fall suddenly into smiling, harmonious sync.

-Uncle Leon, Brooklyn Country