April Mae & The June Bugs
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April Mae & The June Bugs

Moorestown, New Jersey, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | SELF

Moorestown, New Jersey, United States | SELF
Established on Jan, 2010
Band Americana Roots

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""No Trio Is More Fun" The City Paper"

With a sound built on cigar-box guitar, slap bass and washboard, no trio is more fun in performance than New Jersey’s April Mae and the June Bugs. The recent Boogie! (aprilmaeandthejunebugs.com) does justice to the live show with the three taking familiar roots genres and twisting them around Mae’s elbow-gloved, thimble-capped fingers. On “Blue Moon Risen,” Dave “Catfish” Fecca trades that cigar-box guitar for mandolin, but with Mae wailing and scratching rhythm on the washboard, it is as much Yank Rachell as Bill Monroe. The one tune with boogie in the title is a modern bait and switch more Kurt Weill than Pete Johnson. —Mary Armstrong

The City Paper - Philadelphia, January 4th, 2013.

- The City Paper - Philadelphia, January 4th, 2013


""Stunning and distinctive both visually and vocally""

"A whole lot of fun...Stunning and distinctive both visually and vocally. My only regret is that we can't get their great bus into the studio to show off too!"

- Sandie Reilly, Co-Producer, "...Horses Sing None of It!" - The Folk Project / Folk Music TV - "...Horses Sing None of It!" - The Folk Project / Folk Music TV


"April Mae & The June Bugs Celebrate Americana Music"

Jan 2015 Front cover feature story with Video! Click link to view.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/life/2015/01/04/april-mae-june-bugs-celebrate-americana-music/21253199/

"April Mae & The June Bugs celebrate Americana music"
SALLY FRIEDMAN, FOR THE COURIER-POST

On a quiet street in Moorestown, in the driveway of a small, neat bungalow, sits a bus. It's hard to miss because of its cherry red and white exterior and its decorative trim.

For April Mae Iorio, 36, and her husband David "Catfish" Fecca, 35, this bus represents a lot more than just a funky and fun means of practical and economical transportation — the vintage 1998, retired small school bus now runs on cooking oil.

It's also a tangible, visual symbol of their message that American roots music is alive and well, not just an interesting chapter in this country's musical history.

"It's what we love, what we share as performers, and the more people who know that," says April Mae, "the happier we are. The bus gets us lots of attention, and that helps the cause."

April Mae & The June Bugs

April Mae is the lead vocalist and plays the washboard. Catfish plays the cigar box guitar, banjo and mandolin.

They met when both were performing in 2002 at a local club.

It was across crowded room, just like in a song, and from that first moment, they've never looked back. The attraction was mutual, and it turned out April Mae's dad was once Catfish's music teacher. He recalls noticing her photo in her dad's studio years before.

"I'm not too sure how happy he was about my interest, but I found my way to her without his help," he beams.

Happily married now, diminutive April Mae is a willing foil for Dave's offbeat humor, and together they harmonize personally and professionally, and have a wonderful time doing it. They have a bulging inventory of stories and music.

Both are well-versed in American roots music.

Catfish, who grew up in Cinnaminson, also is well known for his ability to repair and restore ailing guitars and other instruments. His heroes include Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. His musical passions run from funk to soul and to gospel to American folk.

For April Mae, a Delanco native whose specialties, along with washboard, are vocals and kazoo, music was a genetic legacy. Her mother, MaryAlice daSilva, and her dad, Phil Iorio, were professional rockabilly and rhythm and blues performers, first known as The Three Holidays and then as The Renegades.

Early on, this daughter recognized music was balm to her soul. "It lifts the spirits and it's healing," is her favorite way of describing what music means to her.
April Mae & The June BugsBuy Photo

April Mae Iorio and Dave ‘Catfish’ Fecca interact inside their Biodiesel Bus at their home in Moorestown. They travel to gigs as April Mae & The June Bugs. (Photo: Jose F. Moreno/Courier-Post)

All about the boogie

On a recent chilly afternoon, the bus provided both a warm spot to chat — and a stage. It's been tripped out with all sorts of trappings, the most vivid of which is pop-art upholstery for one of the bench seats. This bus, which sleeps three, has taken the couple across the country for gigs, and becomes an instant dressing room when the need arises.

April Mae & the June Bugs often includes upright bass player Brendan Skwireof Philadelphia, who was rocking out with them on a recent afternoon. Skwire shares the couple's dedication to genres established by generations well before theirs.

"Younger people are definitely, absolutely into this music from the American past," says Skwire. "When we look out into our audiences, we see lots of younger faces, and older ones, too. That really makes us happy!"

The June Bugs not only perform at festivals, clubs and at major events like the fabled Philadelphia Folk Festival. They also have several CDs, including "It's All About The Boogie," featuring their music, and their first album, "April, Mae and the June Bugs."

The couple once recorded at the fabled Sun Records in Memphis made famous by Elvis.

One of the couple's proudest accomplishments was performing with their hero, the late Pete Seeger, whose death last January was a profound loss to the musical community. At one of the Seeger's Beacon Sloop Club Festivals in 2013 in Seeger's hometown of Beacon, New York, April Mae was the lead singer in the classic "Down By the Riverside." Midway into the number, Seeger joined her, singing the traditional gospel version alongside her on stage.

"It was just extraordinary to be part of that session, and we'll never forget it," she says.

Singing for freedom

Without benefit of a high-priced stylist, April Mae has defined her own look, complete with spunky red shoes, a flower in her hair, and long black gloves, designed to allow her gold-tipped fingernails to be seen. Her look is at once funky and folksy, with a touch of drama thrown in.

But there's nothing at all frivolous about the group's commitment to music that spans centuries of American repertoire. Blues, jug band, swing, New Orleans Jazz, Old Time and a special favorite, rockabilly, are all front and center in their musical lives.

One more highlight with national significance comes on Jan. 19, when the couple joins the Martin Luther King Jr., "Singing Parade & Celebration," founded by Pete Seeger in Beacon.

Last year, they were part of the 2,000 marchers remembering MLK, and this year, they expect to be among 3,000 who will march — and sing — the same songs sung during the original Civil Right marches.

"What we do isn't about just one cause — it's about a lot of human rights issues that matter," says Catfish.

"And if, in the process of highlighting those, we can also have fun, all the better. Because what's life without fun?" - The Courier Post


""A Fresh New Look to the Future...A Lot of Fun!" WWOZ"

April Mae and the Junebugs played live on WWOZ 90.7 FM New Orleans and worldwide on www.WWOZ.org. April Mae sang the blues and some of their own compositions straight from the heart. Catfish is a skilled instrumentalist who showcased her voice and his banjo and cigarbox guitar with original interpretations and a fresh look at some traditional pieces. They have a reverence for the old and a fresh new look to the future....a lot of fun.

Hazel the Delta Rambler

WWOZ 90.7 FM the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Station - Hazel the Delta Rambler, WWOZ 90.7 FM the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Station


""The Roots of Their Success" April Mae & The June Bugs delve into the spirit of American music."

"The Roots Of Their Success"
April Mae & The June Bugs delve into the spirit of American music.

Burlington County Times | May 7, 2014
(Front Page, Feature Cover Story)

By Gail T. Boatman, Correspondent

MOORESTOWN - When the Boogie Bus pulls out of the driveway of a small house near Lenola Road and heads south towards blues and rockabilly country, it is carrying two musicians who are staring out on another trip to the region that inspires their songs.

April Mae and her husband Dave "Catfish" Fecca, are two-thirds of the trio, April Mae & the June bugs, which performs at festivals and small clubs in North Carolina, Louisiana, West Virginia, Tennessee, and wherever else they can plunge into the American roots music they love.

They are also Burlington County natives, she from Delanco and he from Cinnaminson, who perform regularly in this area, including a Thursday date at the Craft House in Cherry Hill. On May 17th they will appear at the opening of the Burlington County Farmer's Market on Centerton Road.

April Mae, who performs vocals and plays washboard and kazoo, was born into a family of musicians. Her father, Phil Iorio, played in a local band, The Three Holidays. When her mother, MaryAlice daSilva joined as lead singer, the band became The Renegades. From an early age she was captivated by the spirit she found in singing. "It's about love and joy. It lifts the spirits; it's healing," she said.
"Catfish", who plays mandolin, banjo and cigar box guitar, said that the popularity of roots music is gaining momentum around the country. "It takes us back to traditions of an earlier time," he said, noting that some of the older instruments add to the integrity of the sound.

Cigar box guitars are a particular favorite. "They are like folk art. The builder puts something of himself into it," Fecca said.
The third trio member, the upright bass player, is sometimes a Philadelphia musician who travels with them. On other occasions, they are joined by a bassist from the region where they are appearing.

For the last three years, the couple has traveled on an old school bus they refurbished and renamed. The Boogie Bus sleeps three and has room for their many instruments and the supply of filtered vegetable oil, which they use as an alternate fuel. "Our aim is to be as green as possible,"said Mae.

The trio's third CD will be out in the fall. It was recorded at the legendary Sun Records in Memphis, fulfilling one of Mae's dreams. "It was an honor to be there. it is exactly as it was when Elvis recorded there," she said, noting that she sang in the same spot where he had once stood when recording.

To pay tribute to the studio, the album is named "Sun Kissed."

When they perform, the musicians try to include the audience whenever they can. It is a technique they picked up from Pete Seeger, with whom they have appeared and who they acknowledge as their idol.

While much of their music has a strong southern accent, there is still plenty of action above the Mason-Dixon Line. Brooklyn has become a hotbed of roots music, they say. "It's what Greenwich Village used to be."

[Photo]
April Mae designed the gloves she wears while playing a 1940s washboard.

[Photo]
The couple play venues throughout the area and in North Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and Beacon, NY.

[Photo]
Cover of the April Mae & The June Bugs CD, "It's All About The Boogie."

Photos by staff photographer Nancy Rokos.

Video Online

………………VIDEO FEATURE……….

Video: April Mae & The June Bugs
By staff photographer Nancy Rokos | Posted: Wednesday, May 7, 2014 6:30 am

Moorestown residents April Mae and her husband, Dave 'Catfish' Fecca are part of a trio known as April Mae & The June Bugs, specializing in 'roots' music.

[VIDEO LINK]
http://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/videos/local/video-april-mae-the-june-bugs/html_68ce99e6-202d-535a-b70b-ebfdd0428cd3.html - The Burlington County Times / The Intelligencer (Front Page, Feature Cover Story) May 7th 2014


""Great Fun!""

Imelda May's Personal Tour Blog, "Support came in the shape of April Mae and the June Bugs, great fun and we had a private smelling of their guitars* in the dressing room."

* The guitars being smelled were Catfish's:
1. Custom Cigar Box Guitar. Builder Gerry Thompson. Pick Up and Electronic customizations by Catfish Dave.
2. "Maria" Mexi-Strat. Dave personally customized and carbonated this guitar by setting it on fire and reworking the wood. She gets her name from the Fender employee who wrote her name in the neck pocket. - Imelda May's Personal Tour Blog


"Blues Women Make History and Magic at Hopson Plantation"

THUNDER BAY – Entertainment – Blues Women make history and magic with the first ever international recording. Blues artists and an all female back up band joined passionate forces at the end of January. They gathered in Clarksdale, Mississippi near the famed Crossroads to record 17 all original songs. This all took place at the Hopson Plantation Commissary. Organizers turned the commissary into a recording studio.
Blues Women gather to make history and music

Women blues artists came from all over the globe including Canada, Australia and many states like Texas, Alabama, Maine and more. Most of the women are recording artists, some are seasoned touring artists, others are award winners. All are blues women songwriters and players, with a female view of the blues.

This was the first project organized and spearheaded by the newly formed group called Blues Women International. Project manager was Lon Mickelson from Minneapolis. Mickelson is a long time blues promoter. Atikokan’s Sunday Wilde assisted with the plannning.

It took months of planning to coordinate the venue. There were many assistants and the female artists involved. It was organized to take place prior to the Memphis IBC so that the women could save on travel costs.

Hopson Commissary

The Hopson Plantation Commissary stands today in much the same condition as in its glory days over fifty years ago. The building is full of antique and historical items which create a nostalgic atmosphere reminiscent of the deep south Delta

Hopson Plantation Cotton Picking BluesCotton had always required a large amount of hand labor, at one time over a million families to raise 22 million acres of cotton.

Today the Hopson Plantation is a place for music, arts and antiques and history.

The recording took place on Monday and Tuesday January 28-29 and is now in the second stage of the mixing and editing. The new release is expected to be launched in March of 2013. Many of the artists stayed on site at the Shack Up Inn and the Hopson Commissary so they could network, and work on the creative process. It was magic and history in the making with so many female artists in the blues together to meld and record.

The players involved in the recording were: Pat Pepin (Readfield, Maine), Billie Feather (Winston-Salem, NC), Carol Dierking (Dallas, TX) Heather Cross (Little Rock, AR), Jaqueline Nassar (Clarksdale, MS), Cindy Maloney (Denton, TX), Joni and Alexandra Buffalohead (Minneapollis, MN) DieDra (Birmingham, AL), Kelly Chappue (Huntington Beach, CA) Dee Lavell (Brunswick Heads, NSW, Australia ) Julia Magnus (Austin, TX), Sunday Wilde (Atikokan,Ontario Canada) Janelle Frost (Birmingham, Alabama) and April Mae (Lenola, NJ).

A variety of original music was recorded in this inaugural project, and it is hoped that this project will be one of many organized by the Blues Women International.

Stay tuned for the upcoming release – out in May of 2013, and please check out all the women artists listed above for further information on their musical journey’s. - NetNews Ledger - Thunder Bay, Canada


"April Mae's "Some Iz Good" on The Roots Radio / Blues Chart"

April Mae's single "Some Iz Good" enjoyed placement on the Roots Radio / Blues Chart, from the 2013 Blues Women International release "The Hopson Sessions". The CD charted for 15 weeks before taking the #2 spot. - Roots Music Report, Oct. 2013


""Of June Bugs and Fate""

New Jersey's April Mae and the June Bugs are also on the 10th Annual Cigar Box Guitar Festival bill, traveling to the show in a vintage school bus that's been converted to run on vegetable oil. The trio's guitarist, Dave "Catfish" Fecca is bringing three different cigar box guitars for their set, says singer, washboard player and 1940s "victory roll" hairdo-sporting April Mae. "One of the ones that Dave uses actually has a spring in the neck," she says, "so he can do these neck-bends that are like 'wow-wow-wow' and accents certain parts of a song and lends a lot of dynamics and enthusiasm when he does that. And a normal guitar can't really bend like that."

Founded in 2010, April Mae and the June Bugs expand upon cigar box guitars' typical gut-bucket blues implementation with swing, rockabilly and even Louisiana sounds. "Roots music was originally performed on cigar box guitars back in-the-day when people couldn't afford to purchase real guitars," April says. "We don't feel limited by cigar box guitars, especially with the rockabilly. Dave has put tremolo bars on some of the cigar box guitars he uses - sounds awesome with rockabilly."

Fate stepped in to introduce April Mae to cigar box guitars when she moved into a house in Moorestown, N.J. about 14 years ago. Her neighbor turned out to be Gerry Thompson, a CBG luthier.

"We were in a blues band at the time," April says. As a vocalist, her influences include Etta James, Elvis Presley, Robert Plant and her mom, Mary Alice Iorio. "(Thompson) was booked to play at a cigar box guitar festival in West Virginia and he asked me if I would play bass behind him and if Dave would play guitar behind him, so we actually went on a road trip to Hinton, West Virginia. That was the first cigar box festival we ever went to.

"If it wasn't for us moving next to Gerry, I don't know if we would have evolved this way. He was really a catalyst. It showed us this whole other scene that was out there and kind of underground. Since then it seems like it's exploded. There are so many more festivals now and have been turned on to so many more artists using them."

... - May 28, 2014 AL.com (Hunstville, AL) By Matt Wake


""Entertaining Crowds...Up and Down the East Coast""

"The headlining band, the New Jersey-based April Mae and the June Bugs, has been entertaining crowds with its unique brand of rockabilly, jump blues and swing up and down the East Coast."



'The Eccentric Garden Vaudeville & Burlesque Show' Debuts
Article: Friday, April 20th 2012

Blackhearts Society & Burlesque Productions, a newly formed vaudeville and burlesque troupe based in Quakertown, is staging its first production, "The Eccentric Garden Vaudeville & Burlesque Show," on Saturday at McCoole's Arts & Events Place in Quakertown.

The Eccentric Garden is set as a 1920s high society speakeasy in an era of bootleggers, dames and gangsters. Performances include comics, jugglers, singing, cabaret dancers and classic bump and grind, as well as skits from various performers, with audience participation encouraged.

The burlesque headliner, Kiki Berlin of Philadelphia, has been performing classic burlesque on stage for the past 10 years. Formerly with the Hellcat Girls, Kiki will be performing a tribute to the bygone era.

The headlining band, the New Jersey-based April Mae and the June Bugs, has been entertaining crowds with its unique brand of rockabilly, jump blues and swing up and down the East Coast.

The main show starts at 8 p.m. with a pre-show cocktail party at 5:00PM with vendors of merit.

Portions of the proceeds will be going to support the Muscular Dystrophy Society by sponsoring one of the troupe's dancers who has MS in the Philadelphia Walk, as well as the Upper Bucks Alliance for Creative Expression.

The venue is at 4 S. Main St.

Information: Blackhearts Society and Burlesque Productions' Facebook page. - PhillyBurbs.com April 20th 2012


"(2013) Quite A Year For April Mae & The June Bugs"

Career Jump-Start

It’s shaping up to be quite a year for April Mae & The June Bugs.
By NAILA FRANCIS, STAFF WRITER

If the events of this month are any indication, 2013
could be a game-changer for April Mae Iorio.
The effervescent rockabilly and roots-rock songstress,
who serves as lead vocalist and washboard percussionist
for trio The June Bugs, will be feted at a Get Outta Town party in Cherry Hill, N.J., Saturday to send her and husband Dave “Catfi sh” Fecca off to the
International Blues Challenge in Memphis with some
extra loot to help cover their journey’s expenses.

After five years of competing in regional events for a
shot at entering the IBC, this is the first year she made
the cut. The two were selected by the Lehigh Valley
Blues Network last fall in its annual competition to
choose a band and duo act to represent the local blues
chapter during the world’s largest gathering of blues
artists. In 2012, 119 bands and 86 solo/duo acts entered
the IBC, which is sponsored by The Blues Foundation
and features fi ve nights of showcases and finals,
beginning Jan. 29, with talented hopefuls aiming for
national and even global renown.

“It’s like what the Grammys are to the pop world,”
says Iorio, who will perform both as a duo with Fecca
and with the June Bugs during Saturday’s fundraiser,
which also will include appearances by some of the
area’s most respected blues artists — such as Bucks
County favorites Mike Mettalia & Midnight Shift —
who are returning the favor after she played their own
Get Outta Town parties to send them off to Memphis.
Mettalia, who’s twice competed at the IBC, gave
the Moorestown, N.J., resident the following advice:
“Don’t expect to win. Have fun. Put your best foot
forward.”

“For me, it’s more about exposure and networking
and getting myself out there,” says Iorio. “And playing
on Beale Street will be fun.”

The competition is one in a string of events this
month that seems to be steering her career to new
heights. On her way to Memphis, Iorio will stop in
Clarksdale, Miss., for a two-day live recording session
as part of the inaugural Blues Women International
project. She is one of 10 blues artists from the U.S.
and Canada, with styles reaching from Chicago and
Memphis blues to zydeco and roots music, chosen by
project founder Lonnie Mickelson to perform an original
song, which will be recorded live from the Hopson
Plantation Commissary and released as part of a CD
compilation in the spring.

“She’s doing stuff that nobody else is doing. She
kind of has this acoustic thing and just a flair for off the-
wall sound that’s really fresh right now,” says
Mickelson, a blues promoter who launched BWI to
give talented female artists a chance to get their music
heard and distributed beyond their regional fan base.
“Most of the people are doing the same thing right
now, especially in the contemporary blues ... and all
these girls are doing their own thing.”

The participants, who will be backed by an all female
band, will each be recording a previously
unreleased song. Iorio was looking through some old
journals when she came across the verse and part of
a melody for a song she’d begun in 2010 but never
finished.

“I woke up at one in the morning and the rest of the
song was in my head. I just grabbed my recorder and
got it down. Sometimes, that’s the way it happens,” she
says. “You don’t know when they’re coming. You have
to catch them or they’re gone.”

The new song may bear a solid blues imprint,
but April Mae & The June Bugs — which in addition
to Fecca on banjo, cigar box guitar and mandolin
includes JJ Culpepper on upright bass — has been
skirting the genre in recent years. The band’s latest
CD, “It’s All about the Boogie,” released in 2012, is
a heady, playful blend of swing, rockabilly, bluegrass
and jump blues. Featuring original songs contributed
by all three, save a cover of the 1940 boogie-woogie
hit “Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat,” the album
reveals Iorio’s ease in a number of vocal personas, from
the dulcet and coy to the cheeky and smoldering as she
fl irts and fl ees from romance, savors life’s simple pleasures,
seeks a distant salvation and revels in the band’s
instinctive “groovin’ jive.”

Fecca and Culpepper also sing, as well as contribute
to the quirky, comedic sass, with Fecca taking the vocal
lead on the jaunty lumberjack tale “I Chop Wood.”
For Iorio, the album marks an exciting evolution
from the band’s 2010 self-titled debut of more traditional
blues. It’s the fi rst to feature the mandolin and
the 1940s washboard she began playing two years ago,
creating her own gold-tipped gloves — “I wanted
something campy,” she says — to strike the surface
with a greater delicacy than a thimble would allow.
Yet for all her genre-hopping under a broad Americana
umbrella, the blues remains a foundation. It was
what fi rst caught her ear when she was a girl in love
- The Intelligencer, LIFE - By Naila Francis


"2013 Best Blues/Roots Release Nomination: Blues411 ‘Jimi’ Awards"

The 2013 Blues411 ‘Jimi’ Awards

Best Blues/Roots Release:
Ruff Kutt Blues Band: That’s When The Blues Begins
Omar Dykes: Runnin’ With The Wolf
Spencer Bohren: Tempered Steel
Lisa Biales: Singing In My Soul
April Mae & The June Bugs: Boogie! - Blues 411, Jimi Patricola


"Boogie CD Review "Sassy Aplomb!""

“April Mae & the June Bugs continue their forays into Roots Americana with sassy aplomb.” Thomas J. Cullen III, President Bucks County Blues Society and Contributing Editor Blues Revue - Thomas J. Cullen III, President Bucks County Blues Society and Contributing Editor Blues Revue


"Boogie CD Review "Sultry Melting Pot" - Rootstime, Belgium"

The Review: (English Translation)

Boogie! is the second album of this trio from Moorestown, New Jersey, a result of a chance meeting of like-minded people with a love for music in the U.S. after decades still the hearts beat faster. With roots in blues April Mae is a typical product of the musical history of the U.S.. Attracted by the mystique and history of the genre she went frequently to the South to be there to meet with local, richly varied musical haute cuisine.

A sultry sultry melting pot is the result of these numerous music tours, at least for those who have the time and effort to his ears wide open. Boogie! is an album that should be discovered, let it be put first. First, let go of the idea that you're dealing with yet another rockabilly trio that his sound on board knows to capture.

April Mae & The June Bugs are not traditional rockabilly, but explain in detail how to determine the history of what is today 'roots', is created. In that sense Boogie! more a musical documentary than a CD of the nth roots band. Once people have discovered, undergoes a very pleasant trip with expert tour guide from April Mae (vocals and washboard), Dave 'Catfish' Fecca (on cigar box guitar, mandolin and banjo) and JJ Culpepper on upright bass.

A journey that begins with the rousing guitar lick it with rockabilly tunes surrounded Kiss Me, but where the beautifully framed voice of Mae your note seems to pull in a smoky '30s jazz club in New Orleans, accompanied by a delicious rhythm which is in the hands of Fecca and Culpepper in excellent hands appears. Special of The Day is supported by the trombone Chapman Sowash and makes it indeed to specialtie of the day. Hot, sultry and especially southern tones, even more emphasized by the sexy, theatrical vocals Mae, are interspersed with a sharp blues solo guitar Fecca on his cigar. And just as the idea has taken hold that with Bye Bye Baby traditional rockabilly song tackle've put Fecca with a solo blues influences are again making the spectrum of the song a completely different dimension.

The washboard of April Mae gets all the attention in the bluegrass and folk interspersed with I Do not Know. It appears to be a strong and powerful rhythm instrument and fits seamlessly into the nice up tempo of the song. I Chop Wood was just a tribute to Derrol Adams may be, an American singer-songwriter who banjo hit a bridge between European (read: Irish) folk and American styles. The album ends with grandiose languid swing (Pin Up Girl) and the instrumental Moonlight Paradise, which seems to have run away from a film by David Lynch.

Boogie! houses classic American music with rockabilly and swing as the main ingredients, but framed with a variety of related styles like jazz, doo wop, r & b and a pinch surf, boogie and bluegrass. On stage will undoubtedly make for a big party, but with Boogie! on the plate is a deep bow in place. An absolute must have for the gourmet roots .....

Ferenc Koolen
Press Review URL Link: http://www.rootstime.be/CD%20REVIEUW/2013/JAN1/CD10.html - Rootstime Magazine - Belgium


"Boogie CD Review "It's All About The Boogie!""

"It's All About The Boogie" is aptly titled and is a never fail exploration into a Rock-a-billy American Roots music that's made for good times....Blues 411 Magazine - Blues 411 Magazine


"Boogie CD Review "Old-Timey Styles To Mix Things Up""

April Mae & The June Bugs / It’s All About The Boogie

This female washboard player fronted Rockabilly Trio has a very clever name, and ranges into some other old-timey styles to mix things up on their new 11 song CD. April Mae wrote 3 of the songs, one of them with fine guitarist/mandolin/banjo player Dave “Catfish” Fecca, who wrote 4 others and sings on “I Chop Wood.” Bass player J.J. Culpepper also wrote 3 songs. The one and only cover is Don Raye’s “Scrub Me Mama (With A Boogie Beat),” complete with a kazoo solo!

Opening with “Kiss Me,” song #2 gives you a capsule autobiography of April Mae and the band. Catfish is a fine guitarist, and the group is augmented here and there by harmonica (Mike Mettalia, from the band Midnight Shift which we’ve reviewed), a little extra percussion, and a trombone on “Special Of The Day,” a jazzy New Orleans flavored tune (with drums). A couple tracks are listed as Bluegrass, and regardless of whether the Bluegrass community would agree, they do offer variety, and we get to hear that Catfish is also a fine mandolin player!

While they call several of the tracks Rockabilly, they might not be recognized as such by some of the purists – but I like them, and I like the variety of music here. As a washboard player myself, I always appreciate the instrument appearing, especially in a band like this where it’s on every song.

They may somewhat more resemble a Jug Band or Ragtime ensemble, or a street act, but I believe variety and inclusiveness are very important. And actually, April’s song “Pinup Girl” reminds me a little of Josie Kreuzer’s style. I’d sure go see ‘em play, and look forward to any further recordings that might come my way!

-Marc Bristol, Blue Suede News
- Blue Suede News, CD Review; Issue #99 - 2013


"Boogie CD Makes Coach's 10 Top List"

The Coach’s Top Ten Fall 2012 new releases.

1. Chris O'Leary Band: Waiting for the Phone to Ring (Vizztone)
2. Mississippi Heat: Delta Bound (Delmark)
3. John Lee Hooker, Jr.: All Hooked Up (Steppin' Stone)
4. Maria Muldaur & Various Artists: First Came Memphis Minnie (Stony Plain)

5. April Mae & the June Bugs: It's All About the Boogie (AMJB)

6. David Vest: East Meets Vest (Ark-O-Matic)
7. Brad Hatfield: Uphill from Anywhere (BH)
8. Mighty Sam: Too Much Jesus (Not Enough Whiskey) (Mighty Music)
9. Dennis Jones: My Kinda Blues (Blue Rock)
10. Cee Cee James : Blood Red Blues (FWG)

[“The Coach” is a long time associate of BCBS and CEO of the Boogaloo Investigators] - Bucks County Blues Society


"Happy To Have The Blues Award 2012"

Sexiest Voice (Female) 2012
April Mae and Maria Muldaur

October / November 2012 Issue - Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine


""Boogie Bus" Happy To Have The Blues Award 2011"

On November 13, 2011 Big City Rhythm & Blue Magazine presented April Mae and her affectionately named "Boogie Bus" with the Happy To Have the Blues Award in the category of "Best Ride - Female". The Boogie Bus is custom painted candy apple red and banana cream in a vintage and whimsical style that took her months of sketching to realize.*

Little Freddie King from New Orleans was presented with the Blues Musician "Best Ride - Male" award honoring him as well as his stylish 1973 Caddy.

In March 2012, April Mae had the Boogie Bus converted to run on recycled vegetable oil.

Grease it up baby, here they come!



*Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine's Happy To Have the Blues Award was presented to April Mae at Kenny's Castaways in the heart of Greenwich Village, NYC. - Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine


"'Fans of Southern Culture On The Skids or the Squirrel Nut Zippers, will also enjoy this gem...""

Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine, Feb./March 2012 - CD Review

April Mae & The June Bugs, Self-Released CD
www.aprilmaeandthejunebugs.com

Engaging vocalist April Mae and her duo of June Bugs (upright bass player J.J. Culpepper and cigar-box guitarist/banjoist Dave "Catfish" Fecca) currently perform their unique Americana mix of jump blues, rockabilly, boogie (fittingly, a bouncy version of "June Bug Boogie" leads affairs off here, nodding to both Spike Jones and the Red Stick Ramblers), swing and gospel with hefty pinches of psychedelia and N'awlins bayou blues tossed in for good measure in and around their Moorestown, New Jersey base. Four steaming covers are mixed in with seven creative band originals as the trio swimmingly tackle material by Cab Calloway, Shel Silverstein, Lawrence Walker and, remarkably, rock 'n' roller Eddie Cochran's perky "Somethin' Else." Originals of note include the hymn-like reflection "Sentimental Grace," the jaunty blues "Break Of Dawn" (with a fine screaming vocal by the Catfish), a Hendrix-like "Mile Away" and a banjo-framed slice of loneliness titled "Sun." Fans of Southern Culture On The Skids or the Squirrel Nut Zippers, will also enjoy this gem which, with any luck, should get them out of "Joisey."— Gary von Tersch
- Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine, Feb./March 2012


""Solidly Entertaining""

Blues Festival Guide Magazine - CD Releases: April Mae & The June Bugs

April Mae & The June Bugs, the band’s debut album, features original songwriting along with some very special reinterpretations of songs by such artists as Cab Calloway, Bobby Bare and Eddie Cochran.

The breadth of the band’s material reads like a recipe for American music gumbo; equal parts jump blues, rockabilly, swing and the spirit of New Orleans permeate their music along with a dose of vintage vibes added like Tabasco sauce.

Traveling and performing through the deep south, soaking up the sounds of roots music forms like bluegrass, delta blues, rockabilly and swing led April to form the June Bugs. April Mae, lead vocalist, also plays washboard and percussion with the June Bugs. Dave “Catfish” Fecca sizzles on cigar box guitar, electric guitar and banjo, while JJ Culpepper’s rollicking, expressive bass lines provide the perfect balance between April’s hot-smoke-and-honey vocals and guitarist Catfish’s gritty leads.

"A solidly entertaining collection of American roots music." ~ Tom Cullen, Contributing Editor Blues Revue Magazine, President Bucks County Blues Society. - Blues Festival Guide Magazine


"Roots Baby Roots! Interview with April Mae"

Full Feature Article and Interview with April Mae in Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine. Plus photos, and Happy To Have the Awards feature.

Link provided below.

Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine, Dec./January 2012 - Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine, Dec./January 2012


""Nonpareil! ""

Ron Goad, BMI Grassroots Initiative Consultant

" I certainly find your fabulous ensemble to be nonpareil! "

~ Ron Goad

Songwriters' Association of Washington Vice President (SAW.org)
BMI Grassroots Initiative Consultant, (BMI.com)
Reston Herndon Folk Club Board of Directors (RestonHerndonFolkClub.com)
Frederick Acoustic Board of Directors (FrederickAcoustic.org)
F.A.M.E (Frederick Acoustic Music Enterprise), Board of Director (FrederickAcoustic.org )

non·pa·reil; [non-puh-rel] adjective. 1. having no equal; peerless. noun 2. a person or thing having no equal. 3. a small pellet of colored sugar for decorating candy, cake, and cookies. 4. a flat, round, bite-sized piece of chocolate covered with this sugar. - Ron Goad, BMI Grassroots Initiative Consultant


""The Breakout Surprise Act""

"April Mae and the June Bugs were the breakout surprise act (of the Pennsylvania Cigar Box Guitar Festival) with their 1940's/50's style and charm."

~ Shane Speal

Pennsylvania Cigar Box Guitar Festival, A Report by Shane Speal. - Pennsylvania Cigar Box Guitar Festival, A Report by Shane Speal


""Surprise Hit April Mae & the June Bugs!" January 30, 2012"

- Lehigh Valley Music; Special to The Morning Call

Blues Bands Give Their All To Send Midnight Shift to Memphis...

Surprise hit April Mae and the June Bugs performed upbeat rockabilly with electric guitar, standup bass, and April Mae on country inflected vocals. The group featured thumping bass, some fuzz and slide guitar, spirited singing, and great versions of “Marie Laveau” and “Blue Moon.”

(Two of the three photographs in this story featured, April Mae and her guitarist Catfish.)

By Dave Howell Special to The Morning Call, January 30, 2012
Categories: Concert Reviews, Music, Music News
- Lehigh Valley Music; Special to The Morning Call


""Just Enough Grease to Keep Ya Slip Slidin’ Towards Ecstasy!""

Riverfront Blues Festival – Looking Back in Photos:
Blues 411 Magazine

Honorable Mention:

"April Mae and The June Bugs a NJ three-piece band that brings rock-a-billy sensibilities with just enough grease to keep ya slip slidin’ towards ecstasy! Fun times, fast times and a crowd pleasing set made them the surprise hit of the Bandwagon Stage. Yeah New Jersey!"

Chef Jimi
©Blues411.com 2011 - Blues 411 Magazine


""A Vibe That You Cannot Duplicate...""

East coast ramblin’ Americana band with a solidly entertaining collection of American roots music, April Mae and her fellows have a vibe that you cannot duplicate and we are ‘Happy to Have the Blues” with April Mae, Roots Baby Roots!

Track #16. April Mae & The June Bugs
“Travelin’ Fortune Blues” (3:29)

2011-12 Big City Blues Sampler CD #11
"Get Rhythm, When You Get The Blues."

- Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine.
- Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine


""June Bug Boogie" Featured in Blues Festival Guide Magazine"

"June Bug Boogie" song, written by April Mae, now spinning on the Juke Box of Blues Festival Guide Magazine's website. March 2012 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine, March 2012


"Jimi Award Nomination: Best Traditional Release"

Traditional Release: Award Nominations.
April Mae & The June Bugs – self titled
Ben Prestage – One Crow Murder
Super Chikan & Watermelon Slim - Okiesippi
Toby Walker – Shake Shake Mama
Brad Vickers & The Vestopolitans – Travelling Fool
Spencer Bohren – Black Water Music - Blues411.com ‘The Jimi Awards’ for 2011


""A Solidly Entertaining Collection of American Roots Music!""

April Mae & The June Bugs CD Review

"A solidly entertaining collection of American roots music!"

Tom Cullen
Contributing Editor Blues Revue
President, Bucks County Blues Society - Tom Cullen, Contributing Editor Blues Revue/President, Bucks County Blues Society


Discography

"Sun Kissed" recorded at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, scheduled for Fall 2014 release.
"It's All About The Boogie!" September, 2012.
"April Mae & The June Bugs" Self-titled CD, June 2010.

Currently receiving radio airplay in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Some of the stations with April Mae & The June Bugs music in rotation are listed below.

USA
WWOZ 90.7 FM The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Station
The legendary "King Biscuit Time" Radio Show, KFFA, Arkansas.
The "Rockabilly Roadhouse" Radio Show, WPRB, Princeton, NJ.
"Talkin' The Blues" Radio show with Microwave Dave, JAB 90.9 FM and WLRH 89.3, The University of Alabama.
Reverend Nix's "Cigar Box Radio Show," http://www.CigarBoxRadio.com
Donny Cash's "Rug Burn Radio", http://www.section86.com/
Blow Up Radio, Lazlo's Den

CANADA
Big Groove Radio, Canada

EUR
Rootstime, Belgium www.rootstime.be
Beale Street, Belgium www.bealestreet.be
Rock 'n' Blues, Italy www.radiorcc.com
Rockabillity Rock'n'Roll Bar, Malaga, Spain
www.RockersHispanos.org
http://www.rockabillyworldwide.com


Photos

Bio

"With a sound built on cigar-box guitar, slap bass and washboard, no trio is more fun taking familiar roots genres and twisting them around Mae's elbow-gloved, gold capped fingers." — Mary Armstrong, The City Paper

“Hear my train a-comin’…” sings 1940s "victory roll" hairdo-sporting April Mae; the effervescent songstress, who serves as lead vocalist and washboard percussionist for trio April Mae & The June Bugs. If recent events are any indication, 2014 could be a game-changer. Dubbed the "The Breakout Surprise Act" by concert reviewing journalists on more than one occasion the trio has been garnering recent press. (1)

Featured in the Burlington County Times, with a full page cover story and companion video, bearing the title "The Roots of Their Success" April Mae & The June Bugs delve into the spirit of American music. An interview with AL.com, and a thirty minute TV Appearance on The Folk Project's "…Horses Sing None of It!" due to broadcast on July 3rd with Manhattan Neighborhood Network, and Time/Warner Cable.

 On August 16, 2014 the trio will perform at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the largest and longest-running festival of its kind in the country.

Their third CD will be released in the fall. It was recorded at the legendary Sun Records in Memphis, fulfilling one of Mae's dreams. "It was an honor to be there.” To pay tribute to the studio, the album is titled "Sun Kissed."

 “She’s doing stuff that nobody else is doing. She kind of has this acoustic thing and just a flair for off-the-wall sound that’s really fresh right now,” says Lon Mickelson, a blues promoter who launched Blues Women International. Mae’s song “Some Iz Good” released by the label, enjoyed placement on the Roots Radio / Blues Chart. (2)

The song may bear a solid blues imprint, but April Mae & The June Bugs has been skirting the genre in recent years. Their previous CD  “It’s All About the Boogie,” marked an exciting evolution from the band’s 2010 self-titled debut of more traditional blues. It’s the first to feature the mandolin and the 1940s washboard she began playing two years ago, creating her own gold-tipped gloves — “I wanted something campy,” she says — to strike the surface with a greater delicacy than a thimble would allow.

The CD received auspicious reviews in The City Paper, Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine, Blues Festival Guide Magazine, and Blue Suede News. Rootstime Magazine, of Belgium called it a "sultry melting pot.”

In 2013 the blues community responded with a “Best Blues/Roots Release Nomination” from Blues411 Jimi Awards, and April Mae and Catfish represented the Lehigh Valley Blues Network to compete during the world’s largest gathering of blues artists in Memphis, as International Blues Challenge Quarter-Finalists. Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine awarded female voice accolades to both April Mae, and Maria Muldaur.

April Mae, was born into a family of musicians. Her father, Phil Iorio, played in a local band, The Three Holidays. Becoming The Renegades When her mother, local beauty pageant queen MaryAlice daSilva joined as lead singer. From an early age she was captivated by the spirit she found in singing. "It lifts the spirits; it's healing," she said.

Founded in 2010, April Mae and the June Bugs the trio entertains crowds at festivals and clubs in North Carolina, Louisiana, West Virginia, Tennessee, and wherever else they can plunge into the American roots music they love.

Traveling to shows in a vintage school bus they refurbished and renamed, that's been converted to run on vegetable oil. The Boogie Bus sleeps three and has room for their many instruments and the supply of filtered vegetable oil, which they use as an alternate fuel. "Our aim is to be as green as possible," said Mae. 

On their travels they’ve performed with many musicians including Pete Seeger, J.M. Van Eaton, Eric Frey of the Red Stick Ramblers, and New Orleans’ Washboard Chaz. Supporting line ups with Imelda May, Theresa Anderson, Cyril Neville, Luke Winslow King, Gina Sicilia, Justin Johnson and Ben Prestage, among others.

After a live radio performance on WWOZ, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Station, DJ Hazel, The Delta Rambler observes, "They have a reverence for the old and a fresh new look to the future.... a lot of fun!”


[Content courtesy of Naila Francis; staff writer for the Intelligencer, Matt Wake writer for AL.com, Gail Boatman; correspondent for The Burlington County Times, and April Mae, © 2014.]



Band Members