Jim Kweskin

Jim Kweskin (born July 18, 1940, Stamford, Connecticut, United States) is an American musician most notable as the founder of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, also known as Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band, with Fritz Richmond, Geoff Muldaur, Bob Siggins and Bruno Wolfe. They were active in Boston in the 1960s. Maria D'Amato, known after her marriage to Geoff Muldaur as Maria Muldaur, formerly with the Even Dozen Jug Band, joined the band in 1963. During the five years they were together, the jugband successfully modernized the sounds of pre–World War II rural music. Kweskin released six albums and two greatest hits compilations on Vanguard Records between 1963 and 1970; Jim Kweskin's America on Reprise Records in 1971; and four albums on Mountain Railroad Records between 1978 and 1987. Kweskin is probably best known as a singer and bandleader, but he is also known for his guitar stylings, adapting the ragtime-blues fingerpicking of artists like Blind Boy Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt, while incorporating more sophisticated jazz and blues stylings into the mix. In 2013, the band held a reunion tour that included Jim Kweskin, Maria Muldaur, Geoff Muldaur, Richard Greene, Bill Keith, Cindy Cashdollar and Sam Bevan, most of whom were amongst its original members.

In the 1960s, Kweskin was a member of the Fort Hill Community, which was founded by Mel Lyman in Boston. In the 1970s, Kwesin recorded some vocals for some Sesame Street inserts, most notably, "Ladybugs' Picnic".[1] In the 1980s, he stopped recording and performing regularly in order to devote himself to building houses.[2] The Fort Hill Community evolved into the Los Angeles–based Fort Hill Construction, of which Kweskin was a founding partner and where he works as vice president.[3]

Further reading

Jim Kweskin Jug Band members

Discography

Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band: Albums

Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band: Singles

Jim Kweskin: Albums (incomplete list)

References

  1. Sesame Workshop (March 6, 2009). "Sesame Street: Ladybugs' Picnic (Kweskin confirms it's him in the comments)". YouTube. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  2. "Sixties Folk Icon Makes Rare Appearance". Trussel.com. 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  3. "Fort Hill Construction | About Us | Our Team". Forthill.com. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  4. Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band  See Reverse Side For Title at Discogs (list of releases)
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