Album Notes

Born as a side-project to the road-weary rock band Say ZuZu, Hog Mawl blends traditional Country & Western with a wry sense of humor and an inclination towards sad songs. Front-man and rhythm guitarist Cliff Murphy (Say ZuZu, Cliff Murphy & The Massachusetts Trust Company) is backed by Bruce Derr (Slaid Cleaves, Dixie Doughboys, Joyce Anderson) on lead guitar, Jon Nolan (Say ZuZu, Jon Nolan & Hokum) on pedal steel, Kevin Guyer (Slaid Cleaves, Bill Kirchen, the Okratones) on upright bass, Alison Magill on fiddle, and Old-Time Dave Talmage (Mill City Ramblers, Asylum Street Spankers, The Everybodyfields) on banjo and mandolin.

Cliff Murphy was inspired to start the band after eating an entire package of corn dogs with a friend at a run-down New Hampshire farm house while listening to a steady stream of trucker tapes. Hog Mawl’s style lands somewhere between Dick Curless’ early recordings for Event Records, Steve Earle’s “Train A Comin’”, and a heavy dose of Johnny Cash and Slaid Cleaves.

Hog Mawl has opened for a number of traditional Country & Western acts like Wayne Hancock and Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys. They have also opened for alternative rock and country acts like Juliana Hatfield and James McMurtrey. They really would have liked to have played with Johnny Horton, Waylon Jennings, Dick Curless, Yodelin’ Slim Clark, Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, and Jimmie Rodgers.