Panama Limited Jug Band - Panama Limited Jug Band (Reissue) (1969/2006)

Panama Limited Jug Band formed in the latter months of 1968 and were part of the UK country blues scene, an esoteric (no pun intended!) offshoot of the R&B favoured by the more commercial end of the British Blues Boom. John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with their more traditional approach were the link between bands like PLJB and the Yardbirds.

Taking their name from a Bukka White song and playing music written by the poorest of poor black musicians in the southern USA, PLJB were one of many bands around London at the time who mostly hailed from comfortable middle class suburbia. You can’t get much further from “Alabamy” than Richmond, after all. Their infectious love of the music must have buried that irony deep in their collective social consciousness. They did have one unique selling point in vocalist Pete Hozzell, who unusually for this scene was a black musician, another irony writ large.

An early signing to EMI’s underground offshoot Harvest after being championed by John Peel, PLJB’s eponymous first album came out in 1969 and mint copies now fetch hundreds of pounds on the collectors market. The album is all “Trad. Arr.” and is a straight collection of jug band music, country blues, and skiffle. The opening track even features a kazoo!