September 28 - The Hobo Philharmonic

They went by a lot of names, but The Hobo Philharmonic was the one that stuck.
The most ragamuffin, ramshackle, threadbare, worn at the knees, grease-streaked, pan handling, boxcar jumping, bathtub fearing, soup-can-as-a-bowl using, bonfire building, daytime sleeping, nighttime carousing, countryside criss-crossing, train yard sleeping, red nose having, cheap wine passing, cigarette sharing, vagrancy rap sheet having collection of misfit musicians there ever was. That was the Hobo Philharmonic.
Featuring:
Knuckles Barkley banging percussion on the bumper of an old Chevy, Stew-eyed Hank blowing on a bunch of old Thunderbird bottles, Petie Two Cups thumping a banjo made out of twine and a shower rod, Jimmy the Mick plucking a Jew's harp, Shakes McCallister blowing an old vacuum cleaner like a tuba, Mike the Fish shaking a bag of glass, Wyoming Jackson pulling on a stray dog's tail, Trouble Man Paul shaking a hot water bottle, Peso Ray playing a xylophone made of old beer bottles, Knock Knock Stampers fiddling a crosscut saw, Marbles Luke squeezing an old respirator like an accordion, Loopy Murkles plucking a stand-up bass fashioned out of a bathtub and baling wire, Crimson Ty strumming a toy ukulele, Alex the Commie blowing the kazoo, Hambone Dupree making cat noises, Goose Franklin clapping shoes together, Greasy Palm Jakes rustling old newspapers, Tommy the Babyshitter playing old TV cathodes like a theremin, Cornell the Buccaneer flicking a Zippo, Sad-eyed Lou blowing his nose, Tiny Fats whistling, Charlie the Mutt clogging, Rascal Walker spitting watermelon seeds, and Chimes Bottom Feeder clearing his throat.
That was one manifestation anyway. It was never the same lineup twice.
There was no telling where or when the Hobo Philharmonic was going to play. It just happened. That's why musicologists and field recorders never managed to capture them on tape.
You could never count on the Hobo Philharmonic being in one particular place--unless you considered the rail yards of the United States one particular place.
One day it'd be blaring outside of Kansas City.
The next night it would be gone and it would stay gone until a few weeks later when it popped up on the outskirts of Albuquerque.
And then it would disappear and stay disappeared until it was spotted near Dubuque.
That was the Hobo Philharmonic.
Blues music, field hollers, the music of the rails. Show tunes by way of Tom Waits passed out drunk in the back of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Spirituals and work songs, the music of American Gypsies, howls, junkyard anthems, the baroque of the broke, desolation blues, jug band operas, tin pan alley and the Beat Generation.
Not available on iTunes.