The Bumper Jacksons play as a duo, trio, quartet, up to septet. You can find them at music venues, swing dances, house concerts, speakeasies, and you can hire them for private events.
Jess Eliot Myhre —clarinet . washboard . vocals . ukulele . kazoo
A native Floridian, Jess Eliot grew up singing in church and swinging from banyan trees. After performing in hip hop and funk bands in college and DC, she moved to New Orleans and became mesmerized by the sounds of the street bands and second lines. She dusted off her lonely old clarinet, built herself the iconic frog washboard, and hopped on the wagon. She now performs along the Atlantic coast, from the Kennedy Center in DC to busking in your city’s streets. She is forever grateful to the New Orleans Jazz Vipers, who let her sit in every week at the Spotted Cat and taught her to love the big, uproarious glory of the old, old sounds.
Chris Ousley — guitar . banjo . ukulele . vocals . mouth horn
A Maryland boy, Chris was allergic to the state’s famous shellfish, so he tramped off to the hills of western Pennsylvania to study the 3 B’s: books, beer and banjos. There he woodshedded with old hill cats in barns outside of abandoned steel and coal towns playing any instrument he could take a turn on. Hitting mountain trails, biking over rough terrain, rafting down rivers, all with a bottle of whiskey and a banjo on his back. Chris’s deep jazz pocket and graceful Kentucky-style banjo is only outmatched by the snarlyness of his beard.
Together, Chris and Jess Eliot form the core of the Bumper Jacksons. Their initial meeting fueled a riotous impromptu jam on the lawn of a radical bike house in Washington, DC.… The music never quit since.
Alex Lacquement — bass . harmony vocals
Alex swears that it was beautiful sirens who lead him to the upright bass at the impressionable age of seventeen. With lots of practice under his belt and two degrees in music education from Eastman(MM) and James Madison University(BA) he has found a home laying down some groovy bass lines with the Bumper Jacksons. His first music love which lead him to the upright bass was jazz music, something he studied vigorously. Years later he found himself chasing every opportunity to play some happy thumping lines with bluegrass and old-time string bands. Alex also plays with Brad and Ken Kolodner, Tom Cunningham Orchestra, pick-up groups, and Leah Shaw.
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