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Hambone

& The Maple Babies

Genre Flexible Breakfast Rock

Savory Licks, Sweet Riffs

Booking Email:

Hambonemaplebabies@gmail.com

HOOTENANNY on Tidal
HOOTENANNY on Spotify
Stickers!!
HOOTENANNY on Apple Music 
Our Story

Hambone And The Maple Babies was created when three Iowa City musical acquaintances met to jam post-COVID. Michael Hamlett (Hambone) writes the lyrics and creates the song's basic structure, then brings those ideas to the "Maple Babies", Connor Woods, and Aaron Moseley, to further compose and add their own spices to, and turn it into a finished song. Michael has been writing music since he was young, writing about his hometown, Strawberry Point, Iowa, and singing about rural Iowa. Connor and Aaron grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and went to high school together, playing on the drumline together at Prairie High School. Connor Woods brings a heavy influence to the band, while Moseley brings the funk, the result is an asymmetrical groove. The band has an unspoken connection that makes communicating music spontaneously and open, so each live performance has its own flair. 

Guitar/ Vocal: Michael Hamlett

Drums/Vocals: Connor Woods

Bass: Aaron Moseley

HAMBONEANDTHEMAPLEBABIES

ave you heard of "word painting"?

Hir's the musical technique in which instrumental choices illustrate the lyrical ones —and vice versa in a positive feedback loop. Synergy at its finest.

Skilled word-painters creste something unique, something a purist musician or lyricist couldn't create when exclusively focusing on one or the ather. lowa City's Hambone and the Maple Babies Hootenanny kicks off with the one-two punch of "Good World Gone Bad" and "Something New." 1 think of these two songs as a well-paired word painting.

The EP begins with an immediate.

*90s garage-rock sendup about the

"cold-blooded," the "blank emotions" and the desensitization of the narrator's day-to-day. But eventually, the good world gone bad of the opener's

namesake gives way to something else. Distorted chords play with an off-kilter syncopation, the bass and cymbals hush to a whisper. Prickly, delayed lead lines emerge through the haze like little rays of sunshine. It seems to suggest that something is fighting to get oul. "Something New." maybe.

With that, the tracklist is off to the races. Michael Hamlen, Hambone's singer, songwriter and guitarist, has been mastering his proverbial brushstroke technique for years now. After living with a kidney disease, dialysis and transplant surgery struggles for the better part of his adult life, he mused, T've never felt like I could have control aver my life... I was just cruising-and bruising through life. One thing that kept me sane all those years was must. " Hamlet's songs materalize through a back-and-ford with bandmates Connor Woods (drums) and Aaron Moscley (bass), rehearsing out of Solon. Hamlett serves them the songs, they spike back impromptu grooves. It's a process that keeps its members on its toes. Moselcy shared that Hamlett often tries to trick the band." But ultimately it's the trie's method for "crating asymmencal songs that blend into one another."

This back-and-forth repeats until the final volleys at their live shows. If you ever get the oppartunity to see this group in-person, jump at the chance. Hambone is a trifecta that understands theatricality, showmanship and how live chemistry can radically alter studio work. Tracks on the album, like "Faded Moments," which toys with the trading of phrases and a highlighting of each player at its bookends, seem primed for live shows.

Hootenanny s

*genre-flexible

breakfast rock" is best heard in a song like "Oregon." In less than four minutes, we tour our way through twang-tinged lyrics, a speedwalking bassline and some bar-burner flatpicking for its guitar solo.

For a fleeting moment in its coda, the drums and bass line flirt with a latinesque syncopation akin 10 reggaeton.

"Filthy Dog," the EP's closer, is probably the best example of how Hambone subverts audience expectation. It's their biggest riff-rock crowd pleaser. And yet, the way in which the riff teases and fakes itself out (before going all in) seems sprung from performances at Gabe's and the Alley Cat in lowa City.

As with any debut project, Hootenanny is the culmination of years of life experiences and musical knowhow. The EP features some seriously rip-roaring vocal delivery, spiky riffage, splashy drums and a firm grasp on songcraft and sequencing.

Here's hoping that paints a pretty picture.

-Little Village Magazine

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Book cover for 'HAMBONE & THE MAPLE BABIES' featuring an illustration of a young girl watering colorful mushrooms in a garden.
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A musician singing into a microphone while playing an electric guitar on stage with a drummer in the background.
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A black and white photo of a band performing live on stage. The lead guitarist in the foreground wears a cap, a jacket, and jeans, and plays an electric guitar. Behind him, a drummer is visible playing a drum set, and another band member is seen hold
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A man with glasses, a beard, and a cap playing an electric bass guitar on stage in a dimly lit venue.
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A man with glasses, a beard, and a cap playing an electric bass guitar on stage. The scene is in black and white.
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