the dustbowl revival

Feb 17 2012

The Dustbowl Revival is a Venice, CA-based roots/jazz collective that merges old school bluegrass, swamp-gospel, jug-band, jump blues and the hot swing of the 1930’s to form a spicy roots cocktail.

Known for their raucous dance-inducing live sets, the Dustbowl Revival plays what some call hillbilly jazz—the original front porch rock n’ roll. Think Dylan and The Band in Newport meets Louis Armstrong in New Orleans meets Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes on the beaches of LA.

It’s young people playing high-energy, vintage music and it’s all written and composed by howlin’ and stompin’  frontman Z. Lupetin who first envisioned putting together a kind of roots supergroup when he moved from Chicago (his father is a blues harp virtuoso who sometimes sits in), to Michigan and then to sunny Los Angeles three years ago. 

Want to see who's in the band? Try HERE

Growing from a small string band diligently playing local Southern California clubs (over a hundred shows in the last two years), DBR is now a collective of over ten musicians with instrumentation that often includes tuba, trombone, clarinet, cornet, trumpet, mandolin, banjo, drums, guitars, double bass, harmonica and plenty of washboard and kazoo for good luck. The band’s spontaneous, participatory set-lists assure that every show is a little bit different.

More video can be found after the JUMP.

With an enthusiastic and growing following, The Dustbowl Revival released  “You Can’t Go Back To The Garden of Eden”  in 2010 to rave reviews. Merging their vintage style with a hip, lose-your-troubles-and-start-moving vibe that rings especially true for these times, the record perfectly represents the band’s upbeat message.

2011? A new record "Holy Ghost Station" has been released (recorded on sparkling analog) with producer Raymond Richards of Rockets Red Glare (Local Natives, Ferraby Lionheart, Parson Red Heads) at the helm. 

A limited edition red 7'' vinyl  is also available.

For full contact, including private party info or licensing go to CONTACT - it's pretty sweet.

Or you can email: dustbowlrevival@gmail.com

Or you can call: 310 717 6452

RECENT:

"The music is so genuine, you can almost taste the PBR and port wine being passed around the front porch during the Great Depression on the bayou, or on the post-fire Chicago streets.  Trumpets blaze, guitars wail, and the spirit of a great revival becomes you."

--Train Wreck'd Society

"Extremely sonically gratifying...I know for a fact I would love each and every one of them as not just musicians, but as people."

--Under The Basement (93.3FM Austin, Texas)

"...with big brass beats and nostalgic style, [Dustbowl Revival] instantly transports listeners to a different time and place that they never may want to leave. This band offers such a fun vibe that you just can’t help yourself—once you step into their musical time machine you will find your foot tapping. Before long, everyone was singing and dancing along. The band left the stage amidst pleas for encores."

--Deli Magazine LA

"The songs these entirely eccentric characters create are a brilliant modernization of a time when having the blues was true to life, and a good time could be found in the simplicity of a few instruments being played fast or subtle, short or sweet, and with a strenuous desire to entertain, not just to sell a few records."

--Fensepost (WA)

"These folks ply the waters of modern old-timey music, bringing in folk, rural and urban blues, western swing, bluegrass, N'awlins jazz, Tin Pan Alley and plenty more. With fourteen listed members and an additional handful of "special guests," calling the Dustbowl Revival a collective is something of an understatement. Calling it anything other than startlingly remarkable would be a crime. I'm Thunderstruck." 

-Aiding and Abetting

"This taste for nostalgia has been developing across the indie landscape. From Beirut to Fleet Foxes, many are wearing the clothes of classic American and European folk forms, and are constructing musical identity by conjuring and listening to the past. Not as isolated individuals on a search for original expression, but as a community of players on the same quest. The Dustbowl Revival is a perfect example of this zeitgeist.
 
A previous generation may have felt a disaffected pride at being “out on their own”, but groups like the Dustbowl Revival are starting to question the foundations of both individualized autonomy and utopian denials of the human condition. It’s a community of musicians that connects and invites the audience to participate.
 
That fact alone makes this music a post-modern treasure, and the perfect medicine for the musical palette that usually prefers despair over celebration.
 
Roots folk music has always made a resurgence within American popular music whenever seismic cultural shifts have taken, or are about to take place. Let’s hope that the music of the Dustbowl Revival is a sign of a hopeful shift. Leave it to a bunch of (West Coast) hipster 20-somethings to inject a bit of joy while forging the future by way of the past.

Garrison Keillor could only wish he had a house band this good."

--Pop Matters

"The main thing that really grabs my attention with a band like The Dustbowl Revival is they are writing their music for the love of it, playing a style that few others venture into in this modern era, and they do so as if they have lived through it all."

--LA Music Blog 

Artist to Watch: on Rollo & Grady LA Music  + 

Artist of The Month: Nationally Syndicated Radio Program: Acoustic Cafe

New record + show review in Seattle's MONARCH REVIEW

New full-spread article on Dustbowl in UCLA's DAILY BRUIN: HERE

"Similar to the new New Orleans scene of young DYI street-folk jazz bands, Dustbowl makes a joyful noise blending all the traditions into one loose celebration of American song."

--Greg Vandy, KEXP 90.3FM Seattle

"Dustbowl Revival and some local friends...were utterly enjoyable. They’re not kidding about their name, either: they take that era and make it their own. These guys brought the house down.  People dancing, drinking, like a regular speakeasy.  Scandalous."

--Chicago Critic (Schubas show review)

“The Dustbowl Revival throw everything they’ve got at recreating a folk band, swing band, rock n roll band, a jazz-roots-jive band, an uncategorisable, wild, dance band. You’d have to be a gloomy beggar not to jig around to this; it’s well-rehearsed fun. ‘Dan’s Jam’ is the sound of a party your great-grandpop might’ve been at, back in the day, and ‘Swingin’ Sammy’ sees the band possessed by Cab Calloway…9-10 Rating.”

–AMERICANA UK

“Bluegrass swing like the Blue Ridge miners from the 1920’s heading into town for dancing and drinking.”

–MUSIC SPECTRUM

Recent Live Review From FREE FOR ALL FESTIVAL

“Many great acts graced the stages at the Free For All Festival, but there were a few acts that really stuck out in my mind. The Dustbowl Revival was one of those bands. They played a great mixture of jazzy swing and Big Band style music, without the cliche pop swing sound that is commonly associated with this genre of music nowadays. They sounded authentic and had the audience up and moving. Most audience members ended up looking like hippies dancing around to a Grateful Dead tune more than swing dancers, but nontheless, people were feeling what The Dustbowl Revival was serving up and enjoying every minute of it.”

–Big Wheel Magazine

“With a name that evokes an era decades past, Dustbowl Revival can surprise audiences as one of the more musically sure-footed and adventurous ensembles in town — and, not coincidentally, one of the most fun.…That may seem an unlikely observation to make about a band of smartly dressed merrymakers who routinely pillage songbooks from the 1920s and ’30s. But bandleader Zach Lupetin and his “folk-blues orchestra” work hard to win over listeners.”

–Pasadena Weekly

“The thirteen songs and one hour’s worth of sounds that comprise this collection of songs covers an awful lot of ground over its duration, which I imagine will confuse and turn away some who give this record a chance.  It’s an unfortunate truth of our oft-closed minded society, because this album is a real joy for those who look for and are able to establish a connection with what the band is trying to do.  Moreover, You Can’t Go Back to the Garden of Eden is just an awful lot of fun when it comes down to it and is the type of LP that can easily stand out and distinguish itself from the rest of your music collection.”

–STRIKER BILL

“…The first few songs on You Can’t Go Back To The Garden of Eden remind us in many ways of The Kinks’ Muswell Hillbillies album. Some of this band’s tunes have a cool, loose New Orleans flavor that is characterized by cool spontaneous vocals and some really nifty and loose dixieland horns. As the album progresses, the tunes seem to become more sparse and direct…which is pretty damn cool considering the fact that most bands take the exact opposite approach.”

–BABY SUE

“If you’re not having fun while listening to this fantastic big-band, bluegrass blending of styles, I don’t know what to tell you. They’d be perfect for a dancehall jamboree or a front-porch house party…”

–THE WOUNDED JUKE BOX

“The Dustbowl Revival doesn’t exactly follow the fickle path of fashion. A sweet-hearted ride through Dylanesque melancholy [that] ends with a whistle.”

–Magnet Magazine

“It’s kind of ironic that in these days of economic recession that a band comes along that literally sounds as if it came wandering out of the dustbowl around the time of the Great Depression. Traditional music has never sounded so uplifting or fun to listen to.”

–The Pop! Stereo

“I believe that Zach Lupetin knows the blues deep down in his soul…his is a timeless, happy sound – a very talented singer.”

–Freddy Celis / Rootstime Magazine, Belgium

“Venice-based The Dustbowl Revival sounds dusty all right and harks to an era when a washboard and kazoo were cutting-edge. Grab a spot on the porch swing.”

–Kevin Bronson, Buzzbands LA

“Mr. Lupetin obviously loves this music and the players match his affection with their technique which results in something utterly charming. Matt Rubin’s trumpet work throughout flits around the songs pollinating and stinging, transporting the listener to a black and white life, Dennis Potter, Woody Allen, raising musical eyebrows with a knowing wink. If you want to picture it, think of Clem Snide in a 1930′s musical with Eddie Cantor or the soundtrack to an unseen Marx Brothers film and you’ll be somewhere near.”

—David Cowling, Americana UK

“Any band with a tuba, trombone and washboard (among many other wonderful instruments) should definitely be listened to. The LA music landscape is so rich, so innovative, with so many bands taking so many chances to make their sounds heard. As I slid into my spot at the Silverlake Lounge the other night I was reminded of this very fact. This crazy brass concoction, eight piece band, whose sound is way too large for this stage, brought me back to another era. Their music is a throwback to a previous sound, one that littered joyous nights from the west to the east coasts bringing into its merriment all that would be taken hold of by this music. And while I was not alive all those years ago, The Dustbowl Revival does an amazing job of channeling a creative force from the past while making it truly their own as they performed for us…there is a genuine and very organic approach to their sounds, allowing them to play music the only way they know how which is by having tons of fun on stage and making the sounds truly their own. The Dustbowl Revival makes happy music, right to the core, leaving you with a smile on your face.”

—Loudvine.com

“I ended up really enjoying this. It would go nice with a drunken bar scene in a movie. Also, that is definitely the coolest trumpet solo I’ve heard all year. I doubt you’ll ever hear something like this on MTV, but it’s a nice addition to your collection if you like unique music.”

–-Pigeons And Planes

“The Dustbowl Revival swings so solidly that all the effort remains behind the curtain. All that can be heard is a large group of people playing and singing their hearts out. And having an awesome great time while they do it. Positively infectious. I defy anyone to get through this album without smiling, much less taking to the floor and grabbing the nearest partner. It doesn’t matter if you know how to dance; there are so many styles on this disc even someone with three left feet could find something that worked. Absolutely fabulous.”

–AIDING AND ABETTING (2010)