Polkabilly

About this book

"The Goose Island Ramblers played as a house band for a local tavern in Madison, Wisconsin, from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s. The groups epitomized the polka-billy sound with their wild mixture of Norwegian fiddle tunes, Irish jigs, Slovenian polkas, Swiss yodels, old-time hillbilly songs, "Sandihoovian" and "Dutchman" dialect ditties, frostbitten Hawaiian marches, and novelty number on the electric toilet plunger. In this original study, James P. Leary illustrates how the Ramblers' multi-ethnic music combined both local and popular traditions, and how their eclectic repertoire challenges prevailing definitions of American folk music. He thus offers the first comprehensive examination of the Upper Midwest's folk musical traditions within the larger context of American life and culture."--Jacket.