The Muckrakes's Page

The Muckrakes hail from the backwaters Hampton Roads and formed after a lengthy search for like minded folks to create original roots inspired rock music.

The group was called together by vocalist / guitarist/ banjoist Jon Owings, percussionist Dave "Gravy" Jackson, and guitarist Mike "Spider" Turner. Answering the call was Cory "Juicebox" Nealon on lead vocals / guitar & lap steel, Jason Russell on bass, and Billy England on keyboards & mandolin.

The Muckrakes released their first self-produced 5-song EP in early 2009 which was hailed as, "a stomp strongly through weedy stagnant undergrowth with deftly articulated songs, lyrical stories wrought from heady memories, and true music-craft." In 2011, the band released their second CD, "Grandiphonia". The 14 track album was met with high praise, "...this is combined with raucous, maximum rhythm & blues guitars and hard livin’ lyrics to form a song that should be played on every local radio station five times a day for the next six weeks." and "The Muckrakes release is not an album, but an ode to American History. It reverberates with sonic surprises that sound so natural, it’s easy to forget there were no trippy feedback effects back in the Sun Records days."

Pigeonholing South-East VA, fitting The Muckrakes into any one genre is a difficult task because they meld so many vibrant instruments into a heady mash uniquely all their own.

Their music can shift to sometimes quiet and reflective, sometimes foot stomping and rambunctious, sometimes pure and innocent, and sometimes dark and moody. This is a rock band with bluegrass guts, ragtime legs, folk sensibilities and a dash of the blues for good measure.

Together, the group has found the right combination of sweet and sinister, of power and weakness, of new and old and is here to help make the celebration of life a little more rowdy.

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