C.B.G. Throwdown (Compact Disc)

C.B.G. Throwdown finds Janky bringing a release that focuses exclusively on cigar box guitar. This 9-song release is Janky’s 4th CD in his catalog. Janky features Cody Cotton on harp who played on Hill Country Foot Stomp and Janky’s go-to drummer, the amazing Cole Koenning. Janky’s CBG arsenal on this CD is a handful of custom-built cigar box guitars. Janky learned to play the cigar box guitar from his mentor, Reverend KM Williams and was heavily influenced by Richard Johnston. Janky’s CBGs include a double-neck Lowbowe (made by John Lowe) which is a 1-string bass and a 3-string guitar all in one, a double-string Lowebowe very similar to the one KM played, a 3-string Hambone tuned to Eb open, and lastly, a Hi-Tone 4 string CBG tuned to open G. Janky comments that “the simplicity of an instrument like cigar box guitars or its origin the Diddley Bow makes you really focus on that which is simple. You can’t really get lost and overdo it on 2 strings. My double-neck Lowebowe is a bass player and guitar player in one and you will never find those guys veering from one another – they always share the same groove and slide.”

This CD was mastered by Chuck Ebert at The Cabin Record Co. near Ft. Worth, Texas. Chuck is a multiple Grammy winner and has been friends with Janky since Janky was a teenager in Shreveport, La.

All songs written by Janky sans #9
Janky: Vocals, CBGs & Bass
Cole Koenning: Drums
Cody Cotton: Harmonica
Bear Ryan & Kelly Allison: Vocals on 1 & 9
Harps tracked @ CottonMowfth Studios – Blue, TX
Recorded @ Janky Studio – Austin, TX
Mastered by Chuck Ebert
@ The Cabin Recording Studio
Produced & Engineered by Janky & Chuck Ebert
^(c) 2022 Reverb Unit Records & The Cabin Record Co.

Cigar Box Guitar.

Just the words paint a picture of a primitive instrument, barely stays in tune, hard to play, rustic, atonal…lots of ideas and opinions of what a CBG can be, but none quite right. Some of these instruments are high tech, many are decidedly low tech, cobbled together from leftover bits and repurposed parts.

With this release, Janky firmly lays to rest the idea of CBG as a toy or a novelty. Janky is first and foremost a fan of Hill Country and Cotton Patch Soul Blues, and that love shows clearly on CBG Throwdown, a celebration of swampy, hypnotic, groove-driven blues, recorded with a variety of Cigar Box Guitars crafted by builders from all walks of life and different ideas of what makes a CBG what it is.

I build these instruments myself, and I call them “Kinetic Folk art.” Art that, in itself, inspires and is used for the creation of, more folk art. Because what is music, if not the highest expression of Folk Art?

Two strings, three, four, or six, no matter; if it can produce sound, it can make music. Janky proves it.

Todd Roth
Gilbert & Roth,  Half Fast Repairs and Comin’ Up Muddy

Special thanks to Jesus, Pam, Maisy, Moms & Pops, Robert Kimbrough Sr, Richard Johnston, Todd Roth, Bear Ryan, Kelly Allison, Todd Culbert, Tracy Lindsey, Joe Ayers, Trenton Ayers, Duwayne Burnside, Tim Scruggs,  Kevin Spight, Quatavious, Lady Trucker, Artimus, Genevieve, Vincent Blue Delsupexhe, Sharde Thomas, Billy Garza, Jim Hudson, David Pippin, Erick Diard and all those in Thouars, France, Chad Hudson, Robert Baker @Hi-Tone Guitars, Kevin Hamilton @Hambone, John Lowe @Lowebow, Jason Reed, AustinBluesRadio.net, Geoff & Marie Underwood, The Barbershop/Picker’s Circle, Suds Monkey, Michael Caldwell, Bruce Rusiecki, Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside & all
N. Mississippi musicians.

A huge Janky thanks to Chuck Ebert.