The Lone Star Retrobates

Cowjazz at its Finest

“Remember Western Swing – forget the Alamo”

The Lone Star Retrobates is a boot-scootin’ dance band specializing in authentic West Coast Cowjazz. If Jazz is America’s musical taproot, then this roadhouse-swing fusion is its west-facing branch.

Featuring trumpet, sax, twin fiddles, both standard and pedal steel guitars, drums and standup bass, rich three- and four-part vocal harmonies and even trick yodeling on demand, the Retrobates sashay from hot swing to honkytonk. Let’s say Ella and The Inkspots were to gig with Billy Jack Wills at the corner of Louis Jordan and Ray Price, and say Hank Williams and the Modernaires were sitting in— that’s the Retrobates in a nutshell. Oh, and with laughing gas piped in— these guys have a lot of fun.

The Retrobates show pleases all comers: retro-roots for the youth, jump-boogie for the hipsters, classic swing with new arrangements for granddad, and good tight original arrangements and vocal harmony for the many musicians who like to drop by and sit in on their shows. They might slide easy-like into a sagebrush serenade, to rekindle the campfire classics of the Sons of the Pioneers or the Texas Playboys. They rustle up much of their inspiration from rare 78s, musical oaters, and radio transcriptions.

With a freshly retooled show featuring a kicking all-star horn section—each horn man a bandleader in his own right-- and with the best Cowjazz singer on the West Coast, Bryan “Spex” Adams, the Retrobates are making a stir in the Bay Area alt-country and retro-roots scene. In addition to fronting their own groups, Retrobates alumni have been band members or recorded with Wills brothers Billy Jack and Bob, Jimmie Rivers, Junior Brown, Bill Monroe, The Neville Brothers, The Sky Blue Band, Kinky Friedman, Frank Wakefield, The Swing Cats, The San Francisco Starlight Orchestra, Dan Hicks, the Hot Club of San Francisco, Lavay Smith, Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums, and many, many others.

They've made many radio and TV appearances, and have been featured at many west coast shindigs, including the Western Regional Folk Festival, the Northwest Regional Folklife Festival (Seattle), the San Diego Folk Festival, the Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival and the California State Fair. They played a seven-year engagement at Paul’s Salloon in San Francisco. Nowadays they circle up the wagons the third Sunday of every month at Marin’s premiere hotspot, the 19 Broadway Niteclub in Fairfax.

“I know these guys – they are great players. Check ‘em out!” -- Barbara Martin, Western Swing Monthly

Download our Cowjazz mp3s and check out set lists and Band Bayous at lonestarretrobates.com

For bookings, call the Trailboss at (415) 516-1028

The Lone Star Retrobates Appearances

Cowjazz at its Finest  

“Remember Western Swing – forget the Alamo”

CONCERTS, FAIRS AND FESTIVALS

California State Fair Sacramento Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival Northwest Regional Folk Festival, Seattle WA Western Regional Folk Festival CA Bill Graham’s Shoreline Amphitheater w/ Patsy Montana Oakland Festival of the Arts San Benito and Sonoma County Fairs San Diego Folk Festival concert and workshops S.F. Folk Festival Fort Mason - concert and guitar workshop Jack London Square Oakland mayor’s rally San Francisco State University concert Luther Burbank Arts Center concert Annual Stern Grove Concerts Tuolumne County Wild West Film Festival Grand National Rodeo - Cow Palace, San Francisco

RADIO AND TELEVISION KPFA-FM the “Midnight Special” KQED-TV with Lone Star – San Francisco Public Library Benefit East Bay Community Access TV - “On Stage” program with Lone Star KQED-FM - Sedge Thompson’s “West Coast Weekend” KKUP-FM, Cupertino CA

CORPORATE Moscone Center SF Cast party for “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” Marlo Thomas birthday party, with Tommy Tunes Int’l Singer Sewing Machine Convention Francis Ford Coppola filmcrew vineyard campout- filmed for documentary Cascade Ranch dance-BBQ, Ano Nueva State Park

CLUBS

Napa-Sonoma-Marin: 19 Broadway Fairfax Rancho Nicasio, CA Rosebud’s, Benecia CA Sweetwater Mill Valley Silverado Country Club and Resort Luther Burbank Center for the Arts San Rafael Elks Lodge

San Francisco and Peninsula: 23 Club and Dick’s Tower Brisbane CA Owl & Monkey SF Public Library Artists Series One Market Plaza Mariott’s Great America Paul’s Saloon, SF CA - 8 years as House Band Lucky Luke’s North Beach Pier 23 on Embarcadero The Waterfront Fairmont and St. Francis Hotels Fort Mason Plowshares concert w/ Patsy Montana

East Bay and beyond: Askhenaz Bear’s Lair UCB Olympia Tavern, Fresno Petty Officer’s Club, Alameda Naval Air Station Kensington Western Days, CA - Lone Star Freight & Salvage Western Swing Society, Sacramento  

The Lone Star Retrobates

Cowjazz at its Finest  

“Remember Western Swing – forget the Alamo”

The Retrobates’ Song List

Across the Alley from the Alamo All of Me Bottle Baby Boogie Choo Choo Cha Boogie Cow Cow Boogie Curtain Call Don't Get Around Much Anymore End of the Line Ghost Riders in the Sky How High the Moon I Remember You It's All Your Fault Little White Lies Miles of Texas Misery Moanin' the Blues My Adobe Hacienda Along the Navajo Trail Panhandle Rag Right or Wrong Route 66 Satin Doll Sentimental Journey She Taught Me to Yodel Slow Boat to China Smoke that Cigarette Steel Guitar Rag Steelin' the Blues Take Me Back to Tulsa Texas Drummer Boy Tumbling Tumbleweeds When the Bloom is on the Sage

Adventures in Paradise Blues for Dixie Chattanooga Choo Choo Corrina, Corrina Crazy Don't Fence Me In East of the Sun Fly Me to the Moon Herding Cats I'll Be There I'm My Own Grandpa Kari Grows Up Lovesick Blues Milk Cow Blues Mississippi Delta Trilogy Mood Indigo My Window Faces South Old Fashioned Love Peach Pickin' Time in Georgia Roly Poly San Antonio Rose Saturday Night Fish Fry Sheik of Araby Sleepwalk Slowpoke South of the Border Steelin' Home Sugar Moon Take the A Train Texas Plains Twin Guitar Special Whoa Babe

The Lone Star Retrobates Alumni

Cowjazz at its Finest  

“Remember Western Swing – forget the Alamo”

Lonestar Retrobates alumni have appeared, recorded or shared billing with:

WESTERN SWING-ROCKABILLY-BLUEGRASS Bob Wills Texas Playboys Billy Jack Wills Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys Rose Maddox Bill Kirchen and Too Much Fun Kinky Friedman Junior Brown Frank Wakefield Bluegrass Band High Country Laurie Lewis Lost Weekend Patsy Montana Cari Lee and the Saddle-ites Truitt Cunningham Byron Berline Tiny Moore Wayne “The Train” Hancock Cornell Hurd Band Bravo Stephanie Davis Dr. Elmo SF Starlight Orchestra Rusty Evans Hot Rize/Red Knuckles’ Trail Blazers Rusty Richards ( Sons of the Pioneers) Peter Rowan Dick Oxtot’s Western Swing Express Bill Woods and Cousin Herb Henson Dale Watson and Lonestar Dayna Wills All-Star Band Shorty Joe Quartuccio Paul Mehling’s Hot Club of San Francisco

ROCK-POP-FOLK-MISCELLANY Dan Hicks Red River Dave McEnery D. L. Menard Sam Hinton Norton Buffalo Iggy Pop Del Rey and the Blues Gators Clarence Van Hook Ramblin’ Jack Elliot Jim Ringer & Mary McCaslin Sky Blues Band Elvin Bishop Mike Bloomfield Luther Tucker Mike Lipskin Harold Jones Thom Bresh Neville Brothers Pfister Sisters The Band The Temptations Gatemouth Brown Notes from the Underground Rockin’ Daddy Cool Papa David Grisman Lavay Smith Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums Burt Bales Barbara Lashley Norma Teagarden Pat Cloud