South Austin Jug Band

Anyone dialed into the old Austin, Texas, music scene will recognize the name Uncle Walt’s Band, a trio featuring David Ball, Champ Hood and Walter Hyatt (the latter two are now deceased). Turns out Hood’s son Warren is a mean fiddle player who formed the South Austin Jug Band with singer-guitarist James Hyland, killer flat-picking guitarist Willie Pipkin, mandolinist Matt Slusher and bassist Will Dupuy. Hood quit to go to Berklee; Dennis Ludiker replaced him. This disc, produced by Lloyd Maines (father of Dixie Chick Natalie), includes a song by Hyatt, who died in the 1996 ValuJet crash, on which Maines and Hood guest. There’s also Hyland’s “The Ballad of Eddie Mullet,” instrumentals “Cuttin’ the Mullet” and “Ramen Noodle Rag,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” and more. Cheap-suit music, Texas style.