PRESS RELEASE

latest news on The Common 'Taters

& the Turn-Ups

THE COMMON TATERS...

play both originals and some covers that are funky, bluesy, reggae, rock, groove, bluegrass, country, and sometimes just plain goofy. Go to https://soundcloud.com/michael-lewis-102 (to hear some 'Tater songs--except for Let Down which we only do if Clyde Ramsey has "turned up" to play with us).

Drink A Little Poison by Grayson Capps, If I Ever Get Right by Papa Mali, and Jambalaya by Hank Williams are some of our New Orleans (second line style) songs. We do some Bob Marley covers—Stir It Up, and Bend Down Low—but want to add more. Our playlist also includes bluesy and rootsy songs like Take Me to the River (Talking Heads style), You Can Leave Your Hat On by Joe Cocker, Lee Dorsey's YaYa Song, B.B. King's The Thrill is Gone, and Sonny Thompson's Tore Down.

Some of our more off-the-radar tunes include Monkey in a Tree by T-Bird and the Breaks; Honey Jar by the Wood Brothers; Walkin' Cane by Robert Earl Keen (a country-gospel sort of song); and Rattlin' Bones by Kasey Chambers & Shane Nichols (an Australian droning/country sound).

Recently we've been wanting to add some David Bowie (Let's Dance) and Prince (Purple Rain) as well as some Steely Dan (Josie and/or Deacon Blues) and a John-Meyer-styled version of I Don't Need No Doctor.

We like jazz, too, and have done a couple of Michael Franks tunes as well as the old classic, Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You. One of the originals on our first album (Wildlife Refugee) is purely a jazz vocal tune, In My Heart.

Often invited to "turn up" and play with us, on our first album of originals we feature Bruce "Sunpie" Barnes on accordion (New Orleans), Derron Ellies on steel pan (Trinidad), and Chelsea Dix Kessler and Emerson Wells-Barrett of Well Worn Soles (Homosassa, Florida). Our second album is in the works now.