The Hokum Hotshots

met in short pants (they’ve always been excitable) in the late ‘60s at the legendary South Tyne Folk and Blues club, and have been playing together, on and off, ever since. Pigmeat, Mr. Charlie, and The Shinola Boys are names that have adorned their guitar cases in the years since that memorable meeting, but Jim Murray and Pete Mason are happy to be – The Hokum Hotshots...(more... use scrollbar &gt; )</span><br /> <br /> Hokum is ‘blues with a smile on its face’ and the Hotshots do it very well . . .<br /><br /> Instruments played include vocals (2), Steel National and Dobro Horizontal Guitars, Mandolin, Tiple (a 10 stringed South American instrument), ukulele, and acoustic 6 stringed guitars. <br /><br /> That makes a total of over 50 available strings, of which most are hit in the right order. <br /><br /> Ralph Bown, York luthier extraordinaire, has been responsible for either building or repairing (and in some cases, both) these fine instruments. <br /><br /> The musical influences range from field hollers, through ragtime, vaudeville, country blues, jazz and swing, through to the urban blues of the 1940s. Add to this compositions sympathetic to the tradition and a large dash of humour and you get close to defining the music that is The Hokum Hotshots. <br /><br /> Over the years the Hokums have shared the stage with such greats as Mississippi Fred McDowell, Johnny Shines, Diz Disley, Martin Carthy, Larry Johnson, Long John Baldry, Jo Ann Kelly, Eric Bibb, Aurora Block, Kieran Halpin, Martin Simpson and many more. They have played Dublin, Cork, Banbury, Burnley, Aberdeen and Wrexham Blues Festivals, Trowbridge, Wath, Penicuik, Crawley and Gatehouse of Fleet Folk to a forestry festival in Holland, Paul Jones Blues programme on BBC Radio 2 and various other radio and television spots, in addition to many appearances at clubs, pubs and arts centres throughout the UK, Ireland and the Continent. . .