When and how was The Star Spangled Washboard Band formed?
The Star Spangled Washboard Band (SSWB) got started in 1971 as an acoustic quartet. The band members met in a coffee house in Troy and, through a series of events, found themselves living and performing together in a mime troop (!) in Chestertown, NY. We got a job at Gaslight Village for the summer and got the act together. Q: Was the mime troop simultaneous to The SSWB or before? A: The other three guys in the SSWB were already committed to performing in the mime troop (Essence Mime Theatre) for the summer. In order to get the band going, they asked me to join the mime troop. Thus we did both mime gigs and SSWB gigs that summer. We continued to do both into the fall but the band started picking up steam and combined with “artistic differences” with the mime troop director, members of the band left the mime troop one by one until we were just doing SSWB. Q: You mentioned that there were three other guys. That would be…? A: The original SSWB formed in 1971 and consisted of Sarge, me,
