TRUCKSTOP HONEYMOON

Steamboat in a Cornfield

2012-03-25

The band Truckstop Honeymoon is comprised of Mike West, Katie Euliss, Colon Mahoney, Nate Craft, Lance Fahy, John Thompson and Larry Maxey. The band name? West and Euliss spent their wedding night at the Tiger Truck Stop between Louisiana and the Atchafalya Swamp. With roots originally set in New Orleans, their home was destroyed with Hurricane Katrina and the couple eventually moved to Kansas. As the liner notes indicate, West and Euliss march every Mardi Gras through sleet and snow, blowing on horns and banging on drums, sounding like a riverboat plowing through a cornfield. Mike states the band is progressively being influenced by old R&B songs, 1930s show tunes and vaudeville--evident in tracks “Play Along,” “She Wants to Be French,” and “The Key.” There are songs poking fun: “Your Mother is a Sociopath” and “Leidseplein”—great tunes for Mother’s Day! I wish parts 1 and 2 of the “Kaw River Rag” were joined in one sweeping banjo instrumental…because separately they are little gems. “On the Prairie Now,” (their lament to either freezing to death or wiping the sweat from their brow) “Corn Maze,” and “Steamboat in a Cornfield” tracks 2, 14, and 15, respectively, are favored tunes. According to binkyrecords.com, Truckstop Honeymoon plays “break-neck breakdowns or waltzes. Their music is like a Dodge with a burned-out clutch: it has two speeds and no reverse.” I couldn’t say it more eloquently myself. – Pam VandeKerkhoff

Quick Links:

• Band website