Duff Thompson & the Full Grown Men, Pony Hunt). It was during this time that Sam had the idea to start the record label which became Mashed Potato Records. 

A distinctive feature of the tracks on MPR Vol I is a strong influence from American roots music, the result of a community of musicians who converged in New Orleans sharing a love of traditional jazz, early country, blues, folk, and R&B. These influences permeate the recordings; Jonathan Henley’s Here to Stay is evocative of ‘70s-era Michael Hurley, Jackson & the Janks cover a hit gospel song from 1947 (The Trumpeteers' Milky White Way), The Lostine’s Playing the Fool is a jubilant ‘60s girl-group throw-back, and their song No Mama Blues (co-written by Riley Downing) has the mournful storytelling of a classic American folk ballad.

These recordings reflect the circumstances under which they were made; informal, without finances, and for the sake of making music as an end in and of itself. All the songs were recorded to a reel-to-reel borrowed from a friend (Max Bien-Kahn), and all but two of the songs featured were recorded entirely live with a simple two-mic set-up. Run Wild (Twain & the Deslondes) was initially recorded as the audio track for a video shot by Joshua Shoemaker. Did Life Make You Bitter? resulted from an impromptu live recording at a party, using Duff’s van as the live room and Bill’s van as the control room. A suggestion following a live show prompted an otherwise-unplanned recording session the next day, during which Duff Thompson & the Full Grown Men cut six live tracks in just over two hours. A friend traveling through sat down in Duff’s van to record five songs, leading to the compilation closer Rare Feeling. All five tracks have been released as Alternator, one half of a double EP from Twain. Indeed, most of the tracks included in this compilation are part of larger collections of songs captured in these sessions, and which I hope you will be inspired to seek out, listen to, and share as well.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                        -Steph Green