Revered road warriors Bumpin Uglies double down with a second live acoustic EP and video captured at the Sugarshack in Western Florida — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Featuring three songs from their recently released album Mid-Atlantic Dub (Wild Girls, Make It Through The Day, You Don’t Gotta Die), one track from 2019’s Buzz EP (Serving) and 2011’s Free Candy full-length (Lie To Me) plus a spirited cover of Jason Isbell’s Cover Me Up, the Live At Sugarshack Sessions Vol. 2 EP finds the band sounding loose and confident, focused and ebullient. Returning to the Sugarshack in Bonita Springs, the Maryland band welcomed the opportunity do another visual EP with some trusted comrades, a follow-on to their well-received collection recorded at the same venue in May 2020.
Bumpin Uglies founder and frontman Brandon Hardesty explains: “Sugarshack has been a staple in our scene for almost 10 years, and we’ve done a lot of work with them. We ended our fall tour in southern Florida so we really wanted to make a session work to record some of these new songs. It was honestly a pretty low-stress situation because the Sugarshack guys are such pros and we’d been playing those songs for months, so we had them tight and ready to go. The caliber of their work is so top notch, we knew if we got a good take they would crush the mix and the video, which they did. I really feel like we captured lightning in a bottle, I’m very proud of it.”
Joining Hardesty were band members Dave “Wolfie” Wolf (bass, vocals), T.J. Haslett (drums), Ethan Lichtenberger (keys) and Will Lopez (tenor saxophone) and regular collaborators Nick Reider (trumpet) and Ben Bays (conga/percussion). Also partaking were special guests Joey Harkum (harmony vocals on Lie to Me) and violinist Liz McBryde (The Who, Sting, Brian Wilson) on the intimate take on Isbell’s Cover Me Up, a love song written by the former Drive-By Trucker for his wife Amanda Shires.
“Cover Me Up has been a favorite of mine since I first heard it, but it really became special to me when I sobered up a few years ago,” Hardesty says. “Making a life in music is extremely challenging. Making one while not drinking is even more challenging, while also being a bit easier, if that makes sense. The temptation is everywhere, but the clarity that comes with it helps me cut through the bullshit. I know Jason was newly sober when he wrote it, and to me, it feels like it’s a song about redemption. It’s a very special song to me and it makes me feel very deeply. I love to sing it.”
Parlaying the gritty, but hi-def vibe of the Sugarshack session, a full acoustic record is in the works for fall, with Brandon recording live, in studio, doing solo acoustic versions of previously recorded songs as well as several unreleased songs that draw inspiration from Isbell, John Prine and others.
For more than a decade, the band — who blend rock, hip-hop, dub, reggae and punk into a refreshing blast of spacetime funk — have toured constantly, starting with local open mics and backyard parties to ever-expanding audiences, festival slots and sold-out shows coast to coast. Whether live at the Sugarshack or at marquee venues from Brooklyn to Tahoe, Austin to Albany, the thinking-man’s party band continues to bump and grind.
Watch their Sugarshack Sessions videos and listen to the tracks above, find them on your preferred streamer HERE, check out Bumpin Uglies’ tour dates below, and bump into them on their website, Instagram and Twitter.
Bumpin Uglies Tour Dates
May 4 – Washington DC – 9:30 Club w/ Joey Harkum & Higher Education
May 5 – Asbury Park, NJ – House Of Independents w/ Joey Harkum
May 6 – Pawtucket, RI – The Met w/ Crooked Coast
May 7 – Syracuse, NY – Funk ‘n Waffles w/ Crooked Coast
May 11 – Raleigh, NC – Bowstring Pizza & Brewyard w/ Joint Operation
May 12 – Isle of Palms, SC – The Windjammer w/ Doze & the Drift
May 13 – Charlotte, NC – Music Yard w/ Joint Operation
June 8-11 – Bedford, PA – Weekend At Wolfies
June 14 – New York, NY – Brooklyn Made w/ Mike Pinto
June 15 – Hampton, NH – Bernie’s Beach Bar w/ Mike Pinto
June 16 – Albany, NY – Lark Hall w/ Mike Pinto
June 17 – Fairfield, CT – The Lot @ FTC w/ Mike Pinto
July 5 – Ocean City, MD – Seacrets Nightclub w/ The Grilled Lincolns
July 14 – Youngstown, OH – Westside Bowl w/ C Level & Joint Operation
July 22 – Olympic Valley, CA – Lake Tahoe Reggae Festival
July 29 – Portland, ME – Bayside Bowl
Aug. 3-5 – Thornville, OH – Everwild Music Fest w/ Pepper, Tropidelic, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Aug. 10 – Virginia Beach, VA – New Realm Brewing Co.
Aug. 11 – Kill Devil Hills, NC – Outer Banks Brewing Station
Aug. 12 – Roanoke, VA – Black Dog Salvage w/ Lazy Man Dub Band
Aug. 13 – Myrtle Beach, SC – Boathouse
Aug. 25 – Bethlehem, PA – Levitt SteelStacks
Sept. 8 – Lolo Hot Springs, MT – Montana Hempfest
Oct. 8 – Las Vegas, NV – Reggae Rise Up Vegas
