Album Notes

"I've had my name 53 years, and you're just meeting me today" --Joe Crow Ryan, "I Have a Teapot"

Joe Crow Ryan pays his rent by playing music in the New York City subway. He has a catalogue of original songs reaching back to the '80s and an ever-growing repertoire of jazz standards and pop songs to please (or pester, depending on your point-of-view) the folks waiting for their train.

Always accompanied by a stuffed leopard named Lili, Joe Crow has an arsenal of instruments including a ukulele, 6- and 12-string guitars, a banjo tuned to sound like a baritone ukulele, numerous percussion instruments, and a harmonica. When set down at a piano, he is likely to let loose with Cecil Taylor-style free jazz, over which he'll spin one of his many yarns.

This CD is the first (and certainly not last) attempt to compile and preserve Joe Crow's peculiar performances, taped live on stage at New York's Sidewalk Cafe, captured on the fly in the subway, and recorded in the studio. Joe's work is funny, charming, sometimes confusing, and often ultimately moving.

Expect THIS MACHINE KILLS PURISTS, VOL. TWO either in late 2009 or early 2010.

--Justin Remer
Compiler, THIS MACHINE KILLS PURISTS