"One of the grooviest band to come out of Washington, DC." - Fatea Magazine
LATEST ALBUM
LIVE AT WOLF TRAP, 2019
We recorded this delightful quilt of sounds at the famed Barns of Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA in January 2019. A sold-out crowd helped us along with claps, shouts and love. There's new, fresh originals on here, but also songs we've been playing for years. Something that continues to amaze us is how much our musical ideas change through the years of our live performances. The classic traditional tune "Jubilee" sounds NOTHING like it did on our studio recording, and our neither did our favorite Tom Waits cover "Clap Hands." The musical moments we made in "God Bless the Child" on this particular night were precious and unique, and we will never sound quite like that again. We are a consistently dynamic, evolving force. Our arrangements are dense and complex, but our individual creative expression bursts out in moments of playful improvisation. Our music is so joyful. And we continue to get better and better. We're proud to share evidence of that with you here. This is the Bumper Jacksons in action. "Live at Wolf Trap" is a beauty and we're excited to release it.
- Jess and the BJs
released August 14, 2019
Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Don Godwin
LATEST SINGLE
WHITE HORSE, RELEASED MAY 2018
4am, a campfire in Your Backyard, USA, summertime.
The firelight bounces off fiddles, horns, guitars, and the faces of the men and women singing together in the deep parts of the night. They might not know each other’s names, but there they are, pouring their hearts out to one another in song, playing tunes older than their great-grandmothers. A certain magic happens in moments like this where a common thread of humanity, going back thousands of years, is plucked – and strangers become old friends. Music creates a sort of temporary social apocalypse where the niceties and norms of society are blown away and a radical openness to others is allowed to take its place.
These are the experiences that birthed the Bumper Jacksons. Our new album I’ve Never Met A Stranger is a toast to all the ways in which we humans bridge the divide between our souls.