Album Notes

The Duke City Swampcoolers are a bluegrass band from Albuquerque, New Mexico otherwise known as the Duke City. The band includes among others of an eclectic mix of professional people including a doctor, a pharmacist, a retired airline pilot, a contractor, and a fellow who does something nuclear. They have been playing together for five years and officially formed in 2004. Current members of the band include Anthony Smith(songwriter, lead vocal, harmony vocal, guitar), Bill DuFault( songwriter, lead vocal, harmony vocal, mandolin, guitar, spoons), Jon Bryan(songwriter, lead vocal, harmony vocal, banjo, ukulele, banjola, sound man), Aaron Combs(songwriter, lead vocal, harmony vocal, guitar, fiddle), Art Jarvis(lead vocal, harmony vocal, bass) and Larry Waisner(dobro). The band\'s first cd was called It Ain’t the Years and was released in 2004. That cd received accolades from New Mexico Magazine. This new cd, called Drained and Unplugged, features fourteen original Swampcooler tunes. Musical influences range from swing to blues to folk to new-grass to hard driving old time bluegrass and to good old country gospel. Swampcooler tunes will hopefully make you laugh and make you cry. Many of the songs are influenced by the great desert southwest and in particular the beautiful state of New Mexico.