Simon Mayo is joined by all four members of Mark's skiffle band The Dodge Brothers playing in the studio, as they prepare to play to a film at the 12th Annual British Silent Cinema Festival.

First broadcast 4th June 2009

Simon Mayo Is Joined By The Dodge Brothers (playing Live in the BBC Five Live Studio)

Dodge Brothers Aly Hirji & Mark Kermode live on BBC Radio Solent's Sally Taylor Show

First Broadcast 17th July 2010

Dodge Brothers Aly Hirji & Mark Kermode live on BBC Radio Solent's Sally Taylor Show

The Current 89.3 Presents "Blues Highway" by Luke Taylor on Minnesota Public Radio

Two blues icons originate right here in Minnesota: the Mississippi River and Highway 61, aka the "Blues Highway". This episode of The Current Presents is called "Blues Highway," and it’s an hour-long exploration of the blues.

Guests in this part of the show are three members of the Southampton, England, skiffle band The Dodge Brothers (Aly Hirji, Mike Hammond and Mark Kermode).

Blues Highway documentary featuring The Dodge Brothers

Two blues icons, Highway 61 -- aka the "Blues Highway" -- and the Mississippi River have their origins in Minnesota. The Current Presents: Blues Highway Revisited is another exploration of the many shapes and influences of the blues. The show builds on the ideas heard on The Current Presents: Blues Highway, which aired on Dec. 18, 2011. 

Tonight at 10 p.m., we talk to two members of the Dodge Brothers, a band from Southampton, England, who draw on a number of classic blues and Americana influences to create their own original music. Singer and lead guitarist Mike Hammond and guitarist Aly Hirji describe what it's like to record at the fabled Sun Studio in Memphis, Tenn., and they explain how the room (and engineer Matt Ross-Spang) evoked a new, unexpected and exciting sound for the Dodge Brothers.

BONUS: 89.3 The Current Exclusive
The Dodge Brothers' new album, The Sun Set, will release in a couple of months, but the Dodge Brothers were kind enough to share two new tracks: "Singled Out" and "Strange Weather." The first features a growling amp under Hammond's sizzling vocals, while the second is more acoustic, melding the sounds of Hammond's tri-cone dobro with Hirji's mandolin, all of it backed by the rhythm section of Mark Kermode (bass) and Alex Hammond (percussion). Both tracks capture the distinctive Sun Studio sound; tune in to hear the U.S. radio premiere of these new songs.

Blues Highway Revisted featuring The Dodge Brothers

The UK's most outspoken film critic, Mark Kermode, is also an accomplished skiffle bass player and devotee of American roots, jug-band, bluegrass and rockabilly music.

For the last ten years, Mark has played bass in his band The Dodge Brothers. Their album Louisa and the Devil was praised and played by Radio 2's Bob Harris, and they've performed with Noah and the Whale, The Subways, CW Stoneking and more.

In March, Mark realised a long-held dream when The Dodge Brothers made a musical pilgrimage to the the home of the blues - Memphis Tennessee. The purpose of their journey was to record their second album at the legendary Sun Studio - the place where Elvis Presley began his recording career along with a host of other musical heroes like Howlin' Wolf, BB King, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.

In this one hour special, we accompany Mark and the band on their journey. We follow them as they rehearse and play in locations in, and around, Memphis and trace the fascinating musical history of this iconic city.

First Broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in August 2012

Mark Goes To Memphis: Recording The Dodge Brothers album "The Sun Set"

The Dodge Brothers are renowned for playing the hell out of classic Americana. Described as "wonderful stuff" by Radio 2 presenter Bob Harris, they play an exuberant hybrid of country blues, rockabilly, jugband and skiffle. Firmly rooted in these traditions The Dodge Brothers bring to them a freshness that has feet stomping and hands clapping from California to Cropredy, from the Mojave Desert to the New Forest. Their songs feature vocal virtuosity and heartfelt harmonies underpinned by joyous guitars, thumping double bass and rattlin' snare and washboard.

The Dodge Brothers features Mike Hammond (lead guitar, lead vocals, banjo), Mark Kermode (bass, harmonica, vocals), Aly Hirji (rhythm guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Alex Hammond (washboard, snare drum, percussion). Their music has an authentically American tang – lead guitarist/vocalist Mike Hammond was raised in Alabama and his youthful musical travels took him all over the southern and western USA – but with a strong British perspective from Culture Show presenter and film critic Mark Kermode. 
Louisa and the Devil is their second album and features songs that render picturesque images of transport, heartbreak and homicide with tales of strong women, bad men and railroads. These fables are set to hard driving rhythms and conjure mythic images of locomotive trains, lonesome souls, love, death and redemption: a siren call to restless spirits.

The band has presented this potent musical brew on BBC2 Culture Show’s 'busking challenge' and they regularly feature on Simon Mayo’s Five Live Friday show. They recently appeared at the Royal Albert Hall at the Concert for Care alongside David Arnold, Paloma Faith and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead. Other appearances include The Roundhouse with Noah and The Whale, The Jazz Café with Rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson, sell-out gigs at London's Borderline, support slots with indie legends The Subways, and shows for huge crowds at The Larmer Tree Festival, Rhythms of the World, Belfast's Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and Fairport's Cropredy Convention. They are often joined by Billy Lunn of the Subways who also makes a guest appearance on Louisa and the Devil.

Film and cinematic landscapes come together when The Dodge Brothers join forces with premiere Silent Film pianist Neil Brand to accompany rare Silent features. Their debut was with their accompaniment to W.S. Hart’s White Oak (1921) at the Barbican. Clive Sinclair of the Time Literary said of this performance;  “They are neither brothers nor from Dodge City but play like they are both.”  Their most recent effort was their accompaniment to the Louise Brooks/Wallace Beery 1927 film Beggars of Life to great acclaim. Performing this at The British Silent Cinema Festival in April, at the Larmer Tree Festival in July and at the New Forest Film Festival in September has prompted glowing reviews.

These guys play with dust in their Levis and the road their hearts.

DodgeBrothers

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