Chokers & Flies - Old Time Music

Boston's Chicken Chokers, and Ithaca, New York's Tompkins County Horseflies (now known simply as the Horseflies) can and do play well in the old time country tradition, while also subjecting that tradition to some radical reconstructions; no mere revivalists, these. Half an album's worth from each band, originally released in 1985. -Rounder Records

The Chicken Chokers and Horseflies were two adventurous but short-lived Boston area string bands who played new "old-time" music in the 1980s. The Chicken Chokers were variously inspired by Uncle Dave Macon, reggae, punk, and rap, even though the instruments they played were "old-time" friendly. The Horsefies were more instrumentally adroit and avant-garde in orientation. Appearing as they did in the late Reagan epoch, it's little wonder these two anomalies shone briefly and then sank without a trace. They played with music in a way that was more aligned with the spirit of the Johnson years. Chokers & Flies was a Rounder album offering some of each band, while full servings of each eccentric aggregate appear on The Chokers' Shoot Your Radio (much fun) and The Flies' darker offering, Human Fly (both on Rounder). ~ Mark A. Humphrey, All Music Guide

An LP we split with the Tompkins County Horseflies. Released by Rounder Records 1/1/1985.