Muddy Basin Ramblers

David Chen and the Muddy Basin Ramblers will be playing after Urban Nomad's screening of "Winnebago Man" at Huashan. http://schedule.urbannomad.tw/en.html

David Chen and the Muddy Basin Ramblers
Some call it blues, some call it jazz, some call it country, some call it hillybilly swing – the Muddy Basin Ramblers love to it play it all. They play the music of the jug bands and string bands from American south in the 1920s and 30s-- a good-time mix of country blues, ragtime, folk and early jazz.

But that's just part of the story for these Ramblers, a group of far-flung American and British expats living in Taipei, Taiwan. Since two-thousand-and-oh-two, the guys have been stompin', swingin', and thrillin' Taiwanese and expat audiences with their orchestra of jug band sounds. They make sweet noise on everything from brass horns and stringed instruments to kazoos and plastic tubs.

And there's another source of magic behind the dusty veneer of those old blues and jazz tunes the Ramblers love to play-- the Muddy Basin.

It's the band's nickname for that mountain bowl of dust, mud and pollution known as Taipei. The city's frantic pace, collided with the gentle island vibe of the rest of Ihla Formosa, has inspired countless soul-affirming jams for the band on festival stages and sidewalks and in parks and bars. The band, all of their friends, and fun-seeking folks rarely fail to leave shows and performances feelin' good. (And more often than not, drunk).