Mulebone returns to northern Michigan
By Ross Boissoneau
Sun contributor
Rootsy blues duo Mulebone—guitarist/vocalist Hugh Pool and flutist John Ragusa—knows the area well. “Glen Arbor is beautiful and holds a special place for Hugh and I,” says John Ragusa, citing the band’s many shows at the Manitou Music Festival. This year the duo’s annual mini-tour includes shows in Leland, Traverse City, Elberta and an appearance at Music in the Park in Northport.
Mulebone’s music is an amalgam of country, blues and everything in-between. While it’s mostly originals, they may sneak in a piece by Reverend Gary Davis or Doc Watson. “We cover songs that are traditional blues, folk and country. Hugh writes virtually all the original material,” Ragusa says.
Mulebone is only a part of the twosome’s musical ventures. Pool toured earlier this year as a solo artist in Ohio and Michigan. When he’s not on the road, he’s likely working at his Brooklyn studio, Excello Recording, where he’s recorded hundreds of records. As a producer and/or player, he’s done sessions with the likes of Taj Mahal, Debbie Harry, Marshall Crenshaw, and even Molly Ringwald.
Ragusa’s CV is similarly impressive. He is a standing member of bluegrass banjo legend Alison Brown’s band and had a long run with Beth Nielsen Chapman, with whom he still plays occasionally. Amongst dozens of studio credits are contemporary jazz greats Jeremy Wall from Spyro Gyra and Joe Taylor (he recently appeared on the guitarist’s Westside Chill) and world music icon Tom Ze.
“I work a lot with her,” he says of Brown. “I love that. She’s an incredible composer. She’s a great bluegrass player, but her beautiful creative harmonies seem much more akin to jazz, or Latin mambo or Brazilian choro.
“The one other person that transformed my approach is Beth Nielsen Chapman. I really love blowing and improvising,” he says. He credits Chapman with teaching him to play what the song needs, not what he wants to do. “Respect the song. I have to not overplay,” he says. “She was unbelievably patient.”
Besides a diversity of musical experiences, Ragusa plays a number of different instruments. “I taught myself flute in high school,” he says. He’s also adept on alto flute and bass flute. Don’t forget pennywhistle, wooden and bamboo flutes including bansouri, jews harp, conch shell and more. And he always makes room in his gig bag for his first instrument, trumpet, though to save space it’s likely to be a pocket trumpet.
Not to be outdone, Pool typically brings along a bevy of guitars, including a semi-hollow body Gibson, a National Standard, a couple of cigar box guitars he’s made, plus harmonica and a boot board to provide rhythm. “He’s working his butt off,” says Ragusa.
Ragusa says a previous partnership with fingerstyle guitarist Jeff Gonzales had been pivotal for him as it made him stretch and made him realize how much he enjoyed playing with others in a creative situation. In fact, Mulebone came about when he needed to fill a longstanding gig after he and Gonzales had called it quits. “We had a gig on Nantucket. It was a weeklong gig, we’d bring our wives and kids,” Ragusa recalls. Pool was playing in a trio with bass and drums and Ragusa asked if he could sit in.
The two hit it off immediately. “Very quickly I saw an opportunity (there),” Ragusa says. A longstanding one: “Hugh and I have played together at least 25 or 30 years. I’ve learned a lot working with him.”
Mulebone Schedule
Thursday, July 11, Old Art Building, Leland
Friday, July 12, Common Good Bakery, Traverse City
Saturday, July 13, Cabbage Shed, Elberta
Sunday, July 14, The Gate House, Mackinac Island
Tuesday, July 16, Opera House, Cheboygan
Wednesday, July 17, Private Concert, Harbor Springs
Friday, July 19, Music in the Park, Northport
Saturday, July 20, Gypsy Distillery, Petoskey
