Ripsaw Records & Patuxent Music present :

Louie Setzer

" Jukebox Bluegrass"

reviews

Louie Setzer - lead vocal & guitar
Ron Penska – bass
Mark Delaney – banjo
Nate Grower – fiddle
Tom Mindte – mandolin & harmony vocal
Billy Hancock – 2nd guitar on “King of Fools”
Frank Solivan II - harmony vocal

Rollin' on Rubber Wheels * It Keeps Right on a-Hurtin' *
Send Me Poppa's Fiddle * Long and Lonesome Old Freight Train *
All for The Love of a Girl * King of Fools *
Wrong's What I Do Best * Burning Bridges *
Christmas in Tennessee * Judge and Jury *
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain * Truck Driver's Queen *
Everyone Has to Answer in the End * Me and the Jukebox *

"Setzer … plays the kind of bluegrass his fans have come to hear. Traditional, hard-driving, down-home bluegrass." Bluegrass Unlimited

"Louie Setzer … belts out classic bluegrass in an inimitable style, which has endeared [him to] fans over the years …" Sing Out!

"Any student of the genre would be hard-pressed to find a more dynamic vocalist [than Louie Setzer]." ­ Bluegrass Music Profiles

Born and raised in Wind Gap, in the heart of Pennsylvania's slate-mining district, Louie was the eighth of nine Setzer children. While his homemaker mother inspired him musically, he didn't learn to play guitar until he was in the Army. After he mustered out in the late 1960s, Louie and his four brothers formed a local Country &Western band, Country Alliance.

Louie was introduced to bluegrass around 1970 and has never been the same since. He just loved the sound of acoustic instruments and harmony singing. His bluegrass career began singing in Eastern Pennsylvania veteran bluegrasser Lloyd Hampton's band, where he developed his distinctive "titanium tonsils.”
Around this time, Louie also began working for Martin Guitar in Nazareth, PA. For his last five years with Martin he was the company's final inspector of guitars, which caused many to say "It's not a Martin, 'til Louie says 'It's a Martin!'”

Having become a bluegrass fanatic, Louie couldn't sit still. He started having shindigs at his Wind Gap home. When the house would no longer hold the crowds, he co-founded the Appalachian Fiddle & Bluegrass Association, which held monthly shindigs at the Blue Valley Farm Building in Bangor, PA. He was the AFBA's President for 12 years. It was at these shindigs that the original incarnation of Louie's band, The Appalachian Mountain Boys, started playing together.
Setzer's first recording, a 45 rpm record "Bluegrass Hall of Fame” b/w “Sweet Alla Lee,” was released in October 1976 (Ripsaw 209). Other recordings followed from time to time, including a 1978 LP “Wood Smoke” (Revonah 505).

This recording, "Jukebox Bluegrass," was co-produced by Jon Strong of Ripsaw Records, who has been working with Louie since his first recording endeavor in 1976, and Tom Mindte of Patuxent Music, a roots music label in the DC area.

On this recording, Louie surrounds himself with first-class musicians and sings top-notch songs.

Long-time Appalachian Mountain Boy Ron Penska provides the bass fiddle accompaniment. Ron also provides the train-whistle sound effect using only his voice. The album is rounded out by Mark Delaney (banjo), Nate Grower (fiddle) & Tom Mindte (mandolin & harmony vocal). Special guest appearances by Frank Solivan II and Billy Hancock put the icing on the cake.

The album's selections are from a cross-section of sources, but the result is pure hard-core, honky-tonkin' bluegrass: There are three well-known, hard-driving bluegrass numbers - "Rolling On Rubber Wheels" (Stanley Bros.), "Me And The Jukebox" (Buzz Busby), and "Truck Driver's Queen" (Charlie Moore); There are four country ballads as well as an outlaw piece that Louie bluegrassifies - "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain" (Willie Nelson), "Burning Bridges" (Jack Scott), "All For The Love Of A Girl" (Johnny Horton), "JudgeAnd Jury" (Warren Smith), and "Wrong's What I Do Best." (George Jones); There is the obligatory fast-paced train song - "Long And Lonesome Old Freight Train"; There is a Sixties pop ballad that gets the Setzer "titanium tonsils" treatment - "It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin'" (Johnny Tillotson); There is a heart-wrenching Christmas song - "Christmas In Tennessee" (Luke Gordon); There is a gospel song - "Everyone Has To Answer In The End" (The Scott Family); and there are two other numbers, one a bluegrass tearjerker and the other originally a rockabilly bop beat song - "Send Me Poppa's Fiddle" (Jim Hagan) and "King Of Fools" (Billy Hancock).