Come on out and jug till you can jug no more! This all-day all-jug band extravaganza features two separate concerts, workshops, and more hand-made, home-grown music than you can shake a gut-bucket at!

The afternoon show features Jugtown Pirates, Devine's Jug Band, Skiffle Symphony with Kenny Hall, Lavay Smith & her Red Hot Jug Band, and Toshio Hirano.

The Jugtown Pirates are a quartet based in North Beach. Mandolinist Paul Mendlesohn Girouard, guitarist Tobias Sanchez-Mahan, bass ace Zack Brough, and violin/viola player Meg May offer four-part harmonies and an energetic array of genres including bluegrass, gypsy jazz, classical, blues, and psychedelic rock.

Devine's Jug Band leaves a trail of grinning faces behind them wherever they go. Recreating tunes from classic jug bands of the 1920s and '30s are Mayumi Urgino (fiddle), Meredith Axelrod (guitar, kazoo, vocals), and Jacob Groopman (banjolin), led valiantly on the jug, washboard, cheek-o-phone, kazoo, and vocals by Pete Devine.

Skiffle Symphony plays music in a blend of styles, using an assortment of homemade instruments--from washboard to gut-bucket to just about anything else you can find around the house. Featuring multi-instrumentalists Morgan "Mr. Caterpillar" Cochneuer, Mike "Feel Good" Feely, Josh Needleman, Tawnya Kovach, and Lauren Ruhl, the group also includes special guest Kenny Hall on mandolin, fiddle, and vocals.

Sultry chanteuse Lavay Smith, known to Bay Area classic jazz and blues fans as the bandleader of the Red Hot Skillet Lickers, graces our stage with her jug band today. Evoking a sensuous era of jazz queens with a modern, feminist twist, Lavay's singing style is influenced by Dinah Washington, Bessie Smith, Little Esther Phillips and other legendary greats.

Known to some as "The yodeling cowboy from way out East," Japan-born Toshio Hirano offers faithful renditions of heartbreaking country tunes with a superbly old-timey voice and a yodel that could bring tears to your eyes.

Visit the Jugtown Pirate's MySpace page

Visit Devine's Jug Band's MySpace page

Visit the Skiffle Symphony's website

Visit Lavay's website

Visit Toshio's website