The Lovestruck Balladeers [78 rpm]

The Lovestruck Balladeers offer a refreshing departure from the ordinary. This versatile quartet fuses ragtime and traditional jazz with old-time string band music, a touch of bluegrass, and a generous sampling of rhythms and melodies from around the world. They might play a Scott Joplin rag one minute and a Spanish-Mexican tango the next! A smash hit wherever they tour, the Lovestruck Balladeers make their Rivermont debut with six wide-ranging selections recorded especially for this 78 RPM disc and not available anywhere else. From the stately elegance of "Scott Joplin's New Rag" to the raucous "Peacock Rag," and from band originals like "Ozark Shoals Rag" and "Albi's Waltz" to the quietly humorous "Redite" from Erik Satie's "Three pieces in the shape of a pear," this compact program is supremely entertaining and begs repeated listening. Exquisitely recorded at Electrical Audio in Chicago in 2022, this substantial 180-gram red vinyl pressing captures all the warmth and clarity of the