DOWNLOADS
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Full-length MP3s are available on the discography page
Full albums for review in any print or web source are available for download or can be shipped. email pupy@upyourdinger.com if you’d like a promo copy to review.
Here is a handy blurb you can copy and paste into your article or review:
For my money, the Big City Honky Tonk are not simply the finest living and working honky tonk band today, but probably the greatest bar band of all time. Their live shows must be seen to be believed, and your life is incomplete until you own all of their CDs and t-shirts (a bargain at any price and available on their web site www.upyourdinger.com). These are the guys that perfected Small Batch Honky Tonk and they serve it up hot both live and on record. They have dedicated themselves to producing honky tonk in its purest form and delivering it as it should be enjoyed: at small venues, and in lovingly hand-crafted 100% all-American limited-run signed and numbered CDs. If you don’t know what honky tonk is, or if you think you hate country music, then you need to hear these guys. They are definitely at the top of my list for Best [fill in category here] of 2010.
Band in a nutshell (more filler for your review)
The Big City Honky Tonk have established themselves as Wisconsin’s leading purveyors of unrepentant, unrelenting, and unapologetic Honky Tonk. They play country music, but not in the way you are thinking. To be sure, Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Merle Haggard, and Bob Wills make a strong showing in any night’s set list, but these boys also dig a little deeper, playing gems from the ‘20s and ‘30s all the way to the ‘70s. From Memphis Jug Band tunes to pre-war Hawaiian swing, nothing is off limits. Expect hokums, 19th century blues obscurities, lost regional country hits, some classics, some originals, and always something new and unrehearsed. But don’t expect a musical history class. The reverence the band has for honky tonk is only outmatched by the irreverence they have for themselves.
Originally known as Pupy Costello and His Big City Honk, the band officially retired in 2009. But following a troubling winter of prophetic visions and delusions, followed by the sprintime ordination of Pupy Costello into the Church, the band re-emerged in 2010 as simply The Big City Honky Tonk, with the Reverend Pupy Costello still at the helm but absent his name in the marquee.
The band has released three CDs: 2004’s Beer Drinking Songs; 2008’s Drinking Beer Songs; and 2009’s Made Rite.
What the press has to say
*please note: as you will see, much of our press clippings are dated because we have made a conscious effort not to seek publicity for ourselves since 2007. The Onion and Isthmus in particular were very good to us in our early years. But people now know who we are, and we don’t need to keep hounding the papers to promote us. Better to let them shine some light on newer less-established bands (and probably better deserving!). Plus, in case you missed the title of our website, it has never been in our nature to be big self-promoters. What we care most about is what our fans have to say and what people who see us for the first time have to say. Like this:
From a girl in the crowd at Turner Hall Ballroom February 12, 2010 (opening for the incomparable .357 String Band)
“I just want you to know, I grew up in the South, and I had “country” music force fed to me my whole life. I absolultely hate country music. When I turned 18, I left the South and never looked back, and hoped I’d never have to hear “country” music again. But hearing you guys tonight made me want to bust into my best Southern two-step, and I haven’t two-stepped in 15 years! I thought I hated country music, and I don’t know what you call it, but whatever it is you guys are doing, I love it. Thank you.”
The Sixth Station January 26 2009
The Big City Honky Tonk is a band whose sound could be compared to Hank Williams, and if you need me to actually specify “Senior” then you’ve missed the point. Pupy Costello himself has that combination of humble country warmth and politeness with a swagger that brought to mind the Brad Pitt character in Thelma and Louise. If he stole 5K right out of your purse you’d shrug it off because he was so charming about it. He sings with a rich country tenor that every now and then breaks into a Mr. Haney-style yodel, and his band — comprised of steel guitar, fiddle, standup bass and trapset — are equally authentic as they take on the Hank, the Johnny Paycheck, and all the usual suspects. And they’re having a ball doing it. By the end of the night, after they had pretty much exhausted a set of convincing originals and spot-on honky tonk covers, nobody blinked an eye as Costello put on a spaceman mask and chugged out an AC/DC tune.”
The Onion: Milwaukee Edition January 23, 2009
“A party-hearty mainstay of the state capital, The Big City Honky Tonk is nice enough to bring its vintage country sounds and unruly boozing to Milwaukee from time to time, exhibiting a devotion to the country drinkin’ song tradition to help our town to stagger through another weekend.”
MKE June 7, 2007
“When they play, they channel all the classics- Hank Williams, Dale Watson, Hank Thompson, and their idol, Johnny Paycheck.”
The Onion (Madison edition) May 17, 2007
“Certain modern influences creep in, but Pupy Costello & His Big City Honky Tonk are mainly committed to setting a throwback mood for lovers of classic country music. The five-piece outfit created a rowdy roadhouse atmosphere at the Crystal Corner with three hours of timeless covers and vintage-sounding originals, several rounds of shots, and a confident but easygoing style.”
The Onion (Milwaukee edition) May 3, 2007
“Pupy Costello & His Big City Honky Tonk are already firmly entrenched as a bar band’s bar band. . . The comical attitude suits Pupy‘s old-fashioned honky tonk originals and covers, impeccably backed by pedal steel and fiddle.”
Ladies Rest Room: Crystal Corner Bar October 6, 2006-May 2007
“Fuck Poopy [sic] Costello and His Big Shitty [sic] Honky Tonk”
Isthmus August 26, 2005
“If your idea of country music is more in line with Hank Williams than Toby Keith, then get your rear on a Crystal Corner barstool for a listen to Pupy Costello & His Big City Honky Tonk the next time a Wednesday rolls around. If the category existed, they might win Madison’s favorite belt buckles, too.”
Isthmus September 2, 2005
“At present, PCBCHT are the cowboy hat-wearing dudes most folks turn to when they’re hankering for a cold brewski and a set that honors Hank, Merle, and the Texas Playboys. They play every Wednesday at the Crystal Corner bar, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to familiarize yourself with their twangy goodness.”
The Onion (Madison edition) September 1, 2005
“With proponents of modern country straying far from its roots- and alt-country masking its influences with a confluence of styles- bands like the Big City Honky Tonk are left to keep golden-age traditions alive. Reverential treatment of standards by Hank Sr., Merle Haggard, Bob Wills, George Jones, and others often rock a lot harder than the country nomenclature suggests. A popular line is that this type of classic country is music for people who don’t think they like country music.”
The Onion AV Club September 8, 2005
“With the new Beer Drinking Songs, Pupy Costello & His Big City Honky Tonk have emerged at the head of Madison’s country-music class. Influenced by the golden age (Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills), the album was recorded and mixed in just five days in order to keep things simple- and to keep the possibility of overproduction at bay. Reverential treatment of standards and unrepentantly retro originals share space on the disc, as they do every time Pupy takes the stage.