Going Live

Here, in Key West, I perform as part of a duo called “The Shanty Hounds.” The duo is comprised of myself and Key West Chris Rehm. Both of us are singer songwriters and found that combining our complimentary skills in music makes for a fun and engaging show. We do lots of covers, some of our originals, and bits of schtick. We take the music seriously but at some points I play a banana shaker, tambourine and kazoo. At the same time. That gets some laughs. People really seem to have a fun time at our gigs.

For the past three years we have played a variety of venues in Key West and up the Keys, but the place that gave us a chance to hone our musical chops the most has been at Grunts Bar, 409 Caroline Street, Key West, a wine and beer bar just off the busiest block on Duval Street. We perform there twice a week, Sundays and Thursdays, from 8-11pm. Mostly we have a trio which includes Bob Tucker on bass and vocals. Bob also plays with The Bubba System, the band that provides music at Grunts on Fridays and Saturdays. Lately, on Thursdays, John Sausser has been drumming with us because we are getting ready to record a live CD album.

The CD will feature mostly original music penned by Chris and I. Some of the songs have been recorded in the studio and some not, such as “Yippee Cayo Hueso,” one of Chris’s songs. We will be doing an extended version of my song “I Like It Hot.” We will also do “The Beach!!!” and “Gone Native.” Our signature ending song, written by Chris, is “Tote the Load,” a country style song about a couple that are traveling musicians. Here are a couple of links to our original music: Dani Hoy  Chris Rehm

We will also have a couple of our best cover songs, the ones we are known for and can get licensing to use without too much work. “The plan” is have the CD done by late summer/early fall. We are running a Kickstarter for it. We need about $351 and have ten days to go to make that happen. It’s not an expensive CD since we don’t need to go into the studio. The rewards include the CD, The Shanty Hounds tee-shirt and coozie. You can support our effort by clicking this link: Kickstarter

Getting this project together for me seemed like a logical step in our music development. We have songs that I feel need to be heard outside of Key West but done in our live style. Studio albums are great for radio but they don’t really capture the essence of a band like a live recording.

Thanks for reading, thanks for pitching in on the Kickstarter, and we hope to see you sometime in Key West.