Steve Robinson

Jack Grace's form of experimental country art rock has been compared to everything from Frank Zappa to early Johnny Cash - or "Cole Porter meets Gene Autry" as the New York Times once wrote.

Five album releases and tracks featured in the films "Super Troopers" and "Beer Fest" have earned Jack a growing following and a steady hum of praise. A recent release, "Drinking Songs for Lovers", features some fine country numbers, but he added mariachi horns to give them a Latin flavor, inspired by his yearly pilgrimage to Tulum, Mexico, where he likes to write songs on the beach. His previous album was a bossa nova-influenced country concept album called The Martini Cowboy.

As Alan Young of the New York Press raved at the time, what sets Jack’s songs "apart from the rest of the country or alt-country scene is his laugh-out-loud, absurdest wit. Not only is this a great party album and a great driving album but it’s also very smart and very funny."

Kevin Canfield, writing for the New York Times, once exclaimed, "Make no mistake: Jack Grace is an old-fashioned country musician." Except that he isn’t. His band rocks too hard to be country. And the band members come from all walks of life: jazz, rock, country and, well, other. Bassist, vocalist and wife Daria (Melomane, Pre-war Ponies) keeps the rhythm going with the rotating drummers, Russ Meissner, Jason "J-Bird" Bowman and Bruce Martin (Tom Tom Club). Horns are provided by J. Walter Hawkes, Rob Henke and "Tuba Joe" Exley.

A consummate live performer, lyricist, singer and guitarist, Jack is at the helm of a powerhouse band that plays kick the can with any musical genre that it stumbles across. Intelligence, humor and unpredictable cross-pollinations of musical categories await. "If you don’t laugh and cry at the same ...you better check your pulse. You might be disgracefully dead." - James Reaney, London Free Press (London, ON)