Americana Music: Bringing a Community Together

Americana music, at its deepest root level, is about family. The music has long been an outgrowth of songs, stories, and legends that began in home, by the fireplace, the front porch, the radio, and the warm glow of celebration. It is in that spirit of gathering, joy, and gratitude that on July 25, the Big Oh Boy Howdie Americana Trifecta Birthday Bash will be held.

The concert birthday party is in honor of Rosalea Schiavone, the heart and soul of Wicked Harem Booking & Productions. At the center stage will be three of the finest bands in Americana-roots music today. The trifecta-ness of the show is captured in the photo-finish bill of three cross-generational fire-brand Americana-roots acts, including legendary rockabilly singer-songwriter Rosie Flores, the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, and San Diego’s own roots-rockabilly sensation, the Sea Monks.

Rosie Flores

The show represents a reunion of three American artists who have shared concert bills out on the road and across the country. They’ve even been neighbors in times past as Rosie Flores and Mark Stuart of the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash can attest to. Both artists lived in the same neighborhood in Austin, Texas.

The dream bill brings together three generations of Americana musicians who have deep ties to San Diego, a community of diverse musical culture that has long been underrated and unappreciated by the world at large. As far as American roots music goes, San Diego could be viewed as Austin-West Coast. Roots artists who once called San Diego home include a roster of well-known legends like Tom Waits, Jack Tempchin, the Eagles, Chris Hillman, John Stewart, Eddie Vedder, and Blink 182.

Making the trek from her Austin home, Rosie Flores returns to her musical roots for this show. Since her early days starting out in the San Diego music scene, she has established herself as one of the finest of Americana singer-songwriters and innovators at work today with a legacy of songs and albums that stands alongside peers like Steve Earle, Rosanne Cash, Mary Gauthier, and Rodney Crowell. Her 2019 release, A Case of the Blues, leans into soulful driving blues with gospel and soul undertows. It’s a strong addition to a collection of four decades worth of uniquely original and stylized albums.

Rosie with the Pleasure Barons, early 1990s. Left to right: John Doe, Mojo Nixon, Country Dick Montana, Dave Alvin, Rosie.

Rosie’s time in San Diego goes back to the beginning of her career in the late 1970s, when she fronted the cow-punk band, Rosie and the Screamers. She was among the first alternative country artists to play the four-year-old Belly Up Tavern during that era. She moved to Los Angeles and kept the alt-country vibe alive, innovating new roots sounds with the all-girl Screaming Sirens, before she went solo and began to make her mark as a rockabilly honkytonk queen who could write songs with the best of the singer-songwriters boys club of the day. In L.A. she found her diverse audience at world-famous venues like McCabe’s Guitar Store and the Palomino Club where she frequently joined Ronnie Mack’s Barn Dance. As a writer of her own songs, she belongs to a long-standing tradition of women songwriters in country music dating back to Kitty Wells and Cindy Walker. But Rosie rocks, which has led her to championing Wanda Jackson and the great, nearly forgotten Janis Martin aka the Female Elvis.  She even played a role in Martin’s latter-day career.

Today Rosie remains an important leader in the Americana-roots/contemporary country music scene. Although it’s been years since her days in San Diego she loves to return.

In 2020 she began working with a new band, the Talismen. They have released a single “So Sad,” the Everly Brothers classic and “I Gotta Right to Cry.” Both songs were released by Mule Kick Records and include wonderful videos with Rosie in full rockabilly form. They can be found on YouTube and the major streaming services.

Her upcoming, soon-to-be-released album is produced by Ed Stasium of the Ramones and Gladys Knights’ “Midnight Train to Georgia” fame.

Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash’s Mark Stuart.

As a one-time Austin neighbor of Rosie Flores, it’s ironic that Mark Stuart’s considerable musical adventures began in San Diego a couple of decades after she left town. Back in the late ’90s, things went into full throttle when Stuart, an exceptional San Diego-based singer-songwriter with a strong roots country sensibility, was signed to a record contract with the band cleverly named the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash. Their 1999 debut album, Walk Alone, celebrating its 25^th anniversary, has become a classic of the New Traditionalist that gave rise to Alternative Country.

Stuart explained in a recent interview that their name just appeared in an off-the-wall manner in passing and it seemed too good to pass up. But it was never his intention to create a musical tribute to the Man in Black. Rather he wanted to capture the spirit of independent originality and a sense of the outsider that Cash always exuded. Stuart said, “Cash always seemed to operate outside of the mainstream music system. That’s how I felt.”

But, as the Bastard Sons were gaining momentum, it was getting permission to use the name that became the riskiest part of the band’s early days. Johnny Cash’s legal team was in full-force opposition to the use of their man’s name in a way that could be deemed as less than respectful. So, it took a hand-carried demo cassette tape and a heartfelt letter to Johnny Cash to break through the wall of fame. It was through the good-grace help from Cash’s niece, along with a good word from Willie Nelson’s second ex-wife, Connie, who lived in San Diego, that did the trick. The result was a personal phone call to Mark from Johnny Cash himself. Cash told Stuart he was moved and touched by the song and letter, and yes, he could keep his band’s name.

If that wasn’t miracle enough, a little while later Stuart was called outside by John Carter Cash after a live gig. Mark Stuart believed his physical health could be at risk by answering young John Carter’s request. But, the son of Cash turned out to be a fan and called Mark outside to invite him to the Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, Tennessee to record tracks for their new album. Mark Stuart, whose band, the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, found themselves feeling like country royalty as the two Johns brought them to the cabin to record. You can’t make up stuff like this. It can only happen in country-roots music.

With such storied past an in-depth listen to the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash and Mark Stuart’s solo album, Texacali Troubadour, yields music that is fully worthy of a close association with Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Billy Joe Shaver.

The Sea Monks

Rounding out the Trifecta of this Americana Birthday Bash is a band that shows the music can organically, if a touch cosmically, grow at home in the heart of a San Diego family. With family-associated acts like Nickel Creek coming from the area, one listen to the dynamic, driven rockabilly, traditional country sound of the Sea Monks, may make the listener wonder what’s in the water in San Diego County.

The band is fronted by 21-year-old Noah “The Flying Aardvark” Kapchinske, singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso. According to the biography on the band website, he studied guitar with San Diego blues master Robin Henkel. His younger brother, Kai Kapchinske, has been a drummer since he was 12 years old. That’s just a few short years ago, but he’s grown into a rockabilly drummer to be reckoned with.

And when it came to drafting a bass player for their band, what do you do? You ask Jason Kapchinske, the father of Kai and Noah, to join the band, of course. And since it was needed, he learned the instrument for his boys. Now that’s a father who really does know best!

The fourth member of the band brings musical kinship to the family table. The lead guitar work of Jeff “Uncle Jeff” Houck has a one-of-kind feel for the music the boys have cultivated and adds touches of Allman Brothers-inspired lead guitar work and a sense of classic country to the mix. He has also contributed to bringing them to the studio.

The Sea Monks latest album, Lost Again, is a great example of how the band has grown from pure rockabilly and enlarged the sonic scape by adding some fine original traditional country songs supported by mind-boggling good music.

Along with staying active with shows local to San Diego, the Sea Monks have expanded to playing Austin’s famous Continental Club, where they shared a bill with Rosie Flores. They will continue with a tour of the deep South, including stops in Memphis and Nashville this summer.

So, the Big Oh Boy Howdie Americana Trifecta Birthday Bash story is complete with the kind of bill that harkens back to the shows that the birthday girl, Rosalea Schiavone, once experienced during her childhood at El Cajon’s Bostonia Ballroom, which was once Grand Central Country Music Station for national country artists like Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, and Patsy Cline.

By the way, the birthday honors will also be shared by Noah Kapchinske and Jeff Houk.

So, join the good-time fun as the family spirit of real Americana country music lives on July 25, thanks to Rosalea Schiavone, Rosie Flores and the Talismen, Mark Stuart and the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, and the great family band the Sea Monks.

The party takes place on July 25, 6:30pm, at Humphrey’s Backstage Live, 2241 Shelter Island Drive.