Devil Goat Family String Band

There are plenty of rumours about inbred families and bluegrass, and The Devil Goat Family String Band are proud to have started a lot of them. They are a family of five been-around-the-block musicians whose disparate musical pedigrees have interbred in an orgy of string band collaboration and celebration. Between them they’ve sired something that music purists may regard as a cross-eyed bow-legged step-cousin of bluegrass, but in truth their forbidden rendez vous has widened the genre gene-pool and created a hilly billy Frankenstien that is more powerful, stronger and multi-faceted than any of the pure-bred species they left back on the farm. A Devil Goat Family String Band gig consists of orginal tunes in the hillbilly and bluegrass ouvre that are not afraid to venture into the swampy badlands of Country, Folk, and Gypsy, and delivered in the style of a passionate high-energy string band. They also throw in some blistering covers such as Foggy Mountain Breakdown to keep the Good Ol’ Boys from reaching for their shotguns.

Gus (banjo), Kate (fiddle) and Jamie (guitar, harmonica and slide guitar) first started jamming on the front porch in 2003 and began gigging in seedy bars in 2004 with Tamara joining on double bass in 2005. In 2006 Johnnie Carr added Dobro slide guitar, mandolin and sparkling tenor harmonies. Through lots of regularly gigging these players have become a tight-knit group of stringband innovators.

They pulled in punters to their five month residency at Wesley Anne in Northcote, as well as regular gigs at venues such as The Lomond Hotel, The Spanish Club, The Cornish Arms, Curry’s Family Hotel and The Retreat Hotel and festivals including the Yarra Festival, Sydney Rd Festival, Guildford Banjo Jamboree and the Castlemaine Festival. They have played live-to-air on ABC 774’s Dereck Guille Show and 3RRR’s Twang Program, and are also heard regularly on 3CR and 3PBS.