Biography
Should you ever need a lift, a new Austin quintet called Hog Branch can help get you back into the groove — and I mean, right now! This grooving soul/blues outfit combines jazz-filled heart with country soul on their self-titled debut album, Hog Branch, which is due out June 10th on Blue Vada Records.
Trying to nail down this eclectic group is no easy task. The genres and taglines that the band have garnered since their formation in 2018 include Wetlands Soul, Funk From The Farm, Country Soul No Limits and Bacon Grease Grooves. You can hear bits of all these on their debut release, recorded at Ice Cream Factory Studios by Matt Parmenter. Hog Branch covers all the swampy turf you might imagine. And the ten songs on Hog Branch create a nostalgic 1970s gumbo, spicing the peak elements of 70s FM Gold with modern swagger and contemporary worldview.
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Founder and touring veteran Rick Watson initially formed Hog Branch to honor his piano-playing Momma, Carolyn Rose. She started him in music lessons early and raised him on a diet of gospel, rock-n-roll, swamp pop, and boogie-woogie. He recalls hearing her play hymns on Sunday mornings on the upright Baldwin at Shiloh Church — just hours after listening on Saturday night from the gravel parking lot of a rural Louisiana dancehall where his parents danced inside to Fats Domino. Hog Branch is the creek that divides the family farm from that little country church where she played and is now buried. But it’s also the border where conflicting styles meet in harmony.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.