BACKSTAGE WITH THE MUCKRAKES
By Patty Jenkins, The Virginian-Pilot
BASE OF OPERATIONS
Newport News, but its 7 members live all over Hampton Roads.
STYLE
Alt-Americana – all original, mixing everything from bluegrass to swing with traditional American rock ’n’ roll.
BIO
The seven-member band formed in 2008 after finding its members through Craigslist, even though most of the members knew each other through the local music scene. The band is: Billy England on bass, Cory Nealon on lap steel/dobro, Mike Turner on guitar/banjo, Jon Owings on vocals/mandolin, Melissa Troutman on vocals and Steve Campbell on fiddle, and Dave Jackson on drums.
“Everyone of us play at least four to five different instruments,” including a “washboard and spoons,” England said.
The band released a five-song self-titled EP this month.
The Muckrakes reached No. 1 in Web site hits on one of the lists compiled by Reverbnation.com, which totals the number of hits on various online sites. The band can been found at MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and iLike, No Depression, and Garageband.com to name a few.
QUOTE
“We’re pretty active on the Internet, because that’s how music is now. Everything is digitally done. We have our finger in the pie when it comes to the Internet and using modern technology. We all have our Blackberries to keep in touch with our fan base.”
MORE ABOUT THE MUCKRAKES
http://www.myspace.com/themuckrakes
http://www.facebook.com/themuckrakes
Tweets by themuckrakes
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/05/backstage-muckrakes-altamericana
