Album Notes

Far down in the swamps of Brooklyn,
you'll hear music of the old and rare kind.
By the trail that curves,
there's a band that serves,
folk music for a smile and a dime.

COURTIER'S LAMENT
Produced by A. Bogs
Recorded at Electric Plant, Brooklyn N.Y.
Engineered, mixed & Mastered by VinCin
All songs written by A. Bogs
A. Bogs: lead vocal and acoustic guitar
Jose Delhart: lap steel, electric guitar and backing vocals
Sean Slaney: mandolin
Cheo Colon: bass
Rebecca Hall: backing vocals
Ernesto Gomez: harmonica, backing vocals
DJ Kenny Mitchell: digital editing and old record sounds on Dirty Cup of Water
Dirty Cup of Water recorded at Modfa Studios, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Special thanx to L. Bogs
Design layout by A. Bogs
Cover photo by Luis Rodriguez

Hello Dear Folks,
Welcome to our Internet home! I'm the singer fur Swampbelly. Glad you could come. Take a listen and read awhile. If ya got any question just press the button that says, e-mail Swampbelly. It'll come ta me personally. Hope you enjoy yourself and if ya get inspired write a song, make a painting, recite a poem. If you have a hard time gettin' started here are my art remedies:

A. BOGS ART REMEDIES

Art is fur folks!
Believe yur an artist!
Make things fur fun!
Explore and invent!
Make everyplace yur studio!
Create at odd times!
Start yur own museum!
Be kind to strangers!
Buy art!
Sell art!
Give it away!
Don't be afraid!

Printed by permission of MODFA
(Museum of Disembodied Folk Art, Brooklyn, NY) Copyright 2002.

What Folks Say About Us-
"Blowing like a fresh Appalachian breeze through the rills and hollers of Brooklyn, Swampbelly delivers a down-home sound anchored in the Dylanesque vocals and old-time songwriting of A. Bogs."
David Goodman- Modern Twang

"They're a Country and Western band (more Western, I think) hailing from the wilds of Sunset Park - they dress in funny costumes and have fun with the persona, but singer-songwriter A. Bogs has a real feel for the genre, and the songs are anything but parodies. I see his work in that Dylan-Woody Guthrie tradition - like them; he has a real instinct for the old forms, so that his songs sound as if they could be old classics or traditionals.
Dan Sallitt-

What We Say About Us-
THE CARTER FAMILY MEETS ALLEN GINSBERG AT ELECTRIFIED HOEDOWN!

Uniquely surreal in their approach to Alternative Country, Swampbelly imbues old-time hillbilly with beatnik wit. Their songs laced with mystery and humor, meld contemporary life with traditional folk. Their live shows endowed with accessible charm and idyllic simplicity bring out the folk in anyone.

With a Country band consisting mostly of Latino members, Swampbelly truly reflects the diversity and divergency of New York music. For the past three years Swampbelly has performed at a number of NYC venues including the Brooklyn Museum, The Bitter End and the Lakeside Lounge. Since the release of their second CD "Courtier's Lament", Swampbelly has received airplay and performed live on WFMU. They were recently sited in NEW YORK PRESS (Best of the Best) as one of New York's non-pop, ass-kicking, hide-the-billygoat country bands.

Review-
Hoveling's Weeklacht -Courtier's Lament- (self-released) is an example of a meltingcup in Brooklyn. Nearly all members are Latinos, playing a kind of country music with warm Southern origin and polka-elements and yodeling, or as they call it themselves Nieuw Ouderwets Geluid -New Old Time Sound-. The roots are indeed very old as they demonstrate on the endtune Vuile Kop Met Water -Dirty Cup Of Water- this song is recorded with studio technics from the forties or somewhere round that time, where also the cracking of the bakelite record is audible. In the more modern performances they sound like you can hear on the (only) seven other tracks. Mainly it's about girls as they tell strikingly in songs like Vallend Van Het Dak Van Mijn Hart -Falling Off The Roof Of My Heart- or Een Miljoen Meisjes Met Bruine Ogen -A Million Brown Eyed Girls-. And also Naamloze Kreek -Nameless Creek- (about swimming in the nude in a pool) and Alleen (Wil Ik Bij Je Zijn) -Only (I Want To Be With You)- excel in cowboyromance. But as the message is strong, again and again you hear the cheery witticism, indicating their meaning that this music is really music for partying. How else can you write such a nonsense song as Als Ik Was -if I Was- where cats, cockroaches and other vermin daily life make unpleasant. In spite of the record is over in half a hour Hoveling's Weeklacht -Courtier's Lament- is a aangename verrassing -pleasant surprise-
Alternative Country Netherlands-