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260:, was released in September 1998 with only Barnes and Rubin credited as members of the band, though the album features various guest musicians, including members of Rubin's side project, Rubinchik's Orkestyr, who are featured on the track "A Yid Ist Geboren inz Oklahoma". The album garnered positive reviews, and the
363:'s bassist Juan Viesca, Rubin became his full time string bassist, mastering the old-fashioned Hispanic "tololoche'" slap style. In 1991 he arranged a three record A&R deal for Jimenez Jr. on the Austin, Texas–based Watermelon Records label. The first "Corason de Piedra" garnered a Grammy Nomination.
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In 2017 he released his first truly "solo" effort, "Songs for the
Hangman's Daughter," recording 11 original compositions accompanied by either guitar, banjo or mandolin. Rubin explores themes centered around the duality of being a Jewish identified Southern Musician and tours solo across the US and
183:
found that the record "sounded quite authentic—almost as if it had long held a place in the
Library of Congress." The Bad Livers spent 1995 and 1996 touring and working on side projects as well as looking for a new label to release their next album. In 1999, Rubin was, according to Andy Langer, the
426:
Rubin was featured along with three other principals in German documentary film "Der
Zerbrochene Klang" ("The Broken Sound") about his participation in the Other Europeans Project; a collective of Jewish and Roma musicians from 9 different countries. As of April 2014, Rubin lives and works in New
453:
Folk Alley said "Mark Rubin is a legend from back in the alt country days, known for his pioneering work in the 90s with his band The Bad Livers in Austin. While he’s never left behind his earlier punk bonafides, his new work in recent years, billed as Mark Rubin - Jew of
Oklahoma, has been more
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No
Depression said "There’s no better distillation of Jewish American identity couched in Southern culture than a 30-minute yarn seesawing between humor, horror, and rage relating to the ways the region’s legendary hospitality clangs with Jewish custom. For most Jews, “hostility” is the likelier
406:" for Warner Independent. And he created the sound-alike Hank Williams tracks for the George Wallace documentary "Setting the Woods on Fire" for PBS. So convincing were his versions that the rights holder initially accused the production company of digitally manipulating the original recordings.
414:
Along with former roommate Kevin Smith (current bassist with Willie Nelson,) Rubin released the seminal video on the "slap" bass technique for upright bass, essentially kick starting the revival of a once lost art of bass playing. Closely associated with roots music, Rockabilly and
Americana,
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focused on the complexity of his identity as a Jewish person of
Southern descent. With his new album, The Triumph of Assimilation, he masterfully melds old-school roots music with Yiddish protest songs and brutally acerbic ruminations on the long history of American antisemitism."
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depressed, Daniel Wolff found the album to be uniquely evocative of a "rural eccentricity" that had not yet been extinguished and formed a kind of continuum with punk and old-time country: "Either the Bad Livers pick up where 'I Wish I Were a Mole in the Ground' left off, or
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and guitar. Barnes and Rubin then continued to perform and record as a duo until unofficially dissolving the band in 2000. The band has neither toured nor recorded since then, but Barnes and Rubin played a few live shows with Grant in 2008, 2009, and 2014.
38:, Austin Texas, in 1990, Rubin is best known as a bassist and tuba player. Today he lives and works in the musical community of South Louisiana based in New Orleans and tours frequently performing his own original material as "Jew of Oklahoma".
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word. For Mark Rubin, the Jew of
Oklahoma himself, the luxury of just being plain old exasperated is welcome by comparison. ...In the South, Jews are acknowledged merely as Jews. Rubin’s radical argument is that maybe they should be treated as
95:, United States, whose inventive musical style defied attempts to categorize them according to existing genres, though their influences included bluegrass, folk, punk, and other musical styles. The original lineup, formed in 1990, included
195:, was released along with the information that White had decided to leave the band. It was announced that he was to be replaced by Bob Grant, though Grant's tenure with the band did not last long. Both White and Grant appeared on
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In 1992, Rubin began working with
Eastern European immigrant musicians from in and around the Houston area from the Polish and Czech speaking communities. Rubin produced or appears on releases for Texas-Polish dance band fiddler
54:. His father was the director of the Hillel Foundation at the University of Oklahoma and was raised in a Jewishly observant household. He first arrived in Austin on August 28, 1987. As of 2014 he lives and works in New Orleans.
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literally a generation of musicians cite their video "The
Ungentle Art" as their introduction and lexicon to the style. Rubin has travelled internationally as a teacher and clinician since the mid-1990s to present day.
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Since 1996, Rubin has been a driving force in the "klezmer" music world as a bassist, tuba player, instructor and pedagogue. His credits in the Jewish music world include long time collaborations with
177:, was produced by Barnes and released on Quarterstick in 1994. In his review, McLeese admired them as "a band drawing from the wellspring of tradition to create something fresh, vital and original."
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The Bad Livers spent 1995 and 1996 touring and working on side projects as well as looking for a new label to release their next album. Finally the band signed a three-album deal with
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who encouraged his playing and suggested he leave for Austin. Rubin left the band, and Dallas, to move to Austin and play with Barnes in 1989, eventually forming "Bad Livers" in 1990.
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as well as the Austin papers, the film did not fare well at the box office, and the soundtrack album did not sell well. The Bad Livers' second album for Sugar Hill,
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is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer of music for television and motion pictures, published critic, educator. Founder of proto-Americana acts
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131:. Barnes composed the majority of the group's original songs. When White quit the group in a snit at the end of 1996, he was briefly replaced by Bob Grant on
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was puzzled but invigorated by a live show supporting the album, concluding that it had been "Fascinating. Even refreshing". Although it left
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Rubin as a bassist is featured at the annual Festival of Texas Fiddling, as its founder noted the festival was "based on his fieldwork."
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show debuted as a special feature at Ashkenaz in 2016. For three summers in the mid 2000s he toured with the Serbian Romani Brass Band
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The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History called him. "One of the great American Jewish musicians of our time."
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79:", and as "a genuine bluegrass band playing straight, fast and loud". It was in Killbilly that Rubin first met banjoist
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In 2015, Rubin released a solo album, "Southern Discomfort", which contains nine original songs and three covers.
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Orleans, Louisiana as a freelance musician, music writer and cultural critic. He is currently penning his memoir.
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157:, "The Bad Livers helped open the way for old-time and bluegrass bands of today". The Bad Livers' first album,
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343:, KlezFest London, KlezMore Wein, Klezmer Festival Furth, Festival of Jewish Culture Krakow among others. His
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in 2021 during the height of the Covid epidemic, Rubin released "Triumph of Assimilation" to great reviews:
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punk rock, sample-based tunes with drum tracks, and a shocking scarcity of juiced-up banjo playing".
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named it "the leftfield album of the week" and found that it "brims with enthusiastic ideas", while
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When not touring, Rubin is tenor banjoist and vocalist for the Panorama Jazz band of New Orleans.
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agreed that Barnes was "an entirely underrated songwriter" as well as a "banjo wizard", while
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Santiago Jimenez Jr., Musica de Tiempos Pasados, Presente y Futuro, (Watermelon Records 1996)
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The Bad Livers' music has often been cited for its influence on other groups, creating what
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and punk. Critics have variously described the band's style as a "fusion of bluegrass and
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In 2013, Rubin, along with Sean Orr, released the album "Texas Fiddle, Okie Guitar".
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had, however, and as Barnes lamented, the album "fell off the face of the earth".
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In 1990, upon learning of the death of San Antonio-based legendary accordionist
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was appreciative of the "beautifully controlled ambience" of the entire album.
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as well as the Bad Livers' next album. Although the soundtrack was admired by
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634:"Mark Rubin Schleps His Instruments Across The World in the Name of Klezmer"
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Mark Rubin and Friends, Hill Country Hannukah (Rubinchik Recordings, 2000)
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Bad Livers, Lust for Life 12" EP UK only (Quarterstick/Touch and Go 1992)
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The Bad Livers were inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
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Rubinchik's Orkestyr, Filpnotics Freilach (Rubinchik Recordings, 1999)
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credited them with "revitalizing roots music", and, according to the
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205:, praising Barnes' "quirky and inventive" original songs, and the
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Barnes, Hokkanen and Rubin, aka the Mad Cat Trio (LumpyDisc 1998)
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Bad Livers, Horses in the Mines (Quarterstick/Touch and Go 1993)
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Bad Livers, Delusions of Banjer (Quarterstick/Touch and Go 1991)
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Shortly after the album's release, Barnes moved from Austin to
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Bad Livers, Dust in the Bible (Quarterstick/Touch and Go 1994)
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Panorama Jazz Band featuring Mark Rubin, Jew of Oklahoma,
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Panorama Jazz Band featuring Mark Rubin, Jew of Oklahoma.
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Bad Livers, Industry and Thrift (Sugar Hill Records, 1998)
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Bad Livers, Hogs on the Highway (Sugar Hill Records, 1997)
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Soundtrack to the "Newton Boys," (20th Century Fox, 1997)
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selected it as the best bluegrass album of 1998, while
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band's "bassist, co-manager, and goodwill ambassador".
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Bad Livers, Blood and Mood (Sugar Hill Records, 2000)
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did not receive as much attention from the press as
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Bad Livers, The Ridgetop Sessions, (LumpyDisc 1997)
351:Orchestra in the "Brotherhood of Brass" project.
287:, was released in February 2000 and featured, as
765:"The Other Europeans in: DER ZERBROCHENE KLANG"
375:and Texavia, appearing with both groups on the
67:Rubin was a founding member of "Killbilly", a
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316:discovered the punk aesthetic in the 1920s."
272:of London admired its "genuine originality".
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516:Bing Bang Boys, (Rubinchik Recordings, 2002)
369:Brian Marshall and his Texas Slavic Playboys
91:The "Bad Livers" were an American band from
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879:People from Stillwater, Oklahoma
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545:Songs for The Hangman’s Daughter
899:Country musicians from Oklahoma
658:DuShane, Tony (19 March 2009).
529:Mark Rubin and Sean Orr, Texas
557:Mark Rubin & Chip Wilson.
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889:American male double-bassists
689:"Papa Mali Extols Mark Rubin"
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741:"Sean Orr & Mark Rubin"
739:Stegall, Tim (2014-08-15).
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211:Austin American-Statesman
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419:Post-Bad Livers career
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580:Happy Joyous Hannukah
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410:"Slap Bass" Technique
341:Yiddish Summer Weimar
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840:Mark Rubin's channel
745:The Austin Chronicle
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361:Santiago Jiménez Jr.
289:The Austin Chronicle
253:Entertainment Weekly
163:Quarterstick Records
159:Delusions of Banjer,
142:The Austin Chronicle
48:Stillwater, Oklahoma
715:"Against the Grain"
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568:(Independent, 2021)
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538:Southern Discomfort
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303:The Washington Post
278:Hogs on the Highway
274:Industry and Thrift
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197:Hogs on the Highway
193:Hogs on the Highway
180:SĂĽddeutsche Zeitung
175:Horses in the Mines
790:"Artists homepage"
582:(Independent 2021)
461:Panorama Jazz Band
189:Sugar Hill Records
46:Rubin was born in
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619:jewofoklahoma.com
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247:The Village Voice
236:Richard Linklater
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469:Discography
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77:shred metal
868:Categories
849:Mark Rubin
813:2018-10-23
774:2016-02-23
750:2018-10-23
601:References
232:Washington
167:Paul Leary
87:Bad Livers
42:Early life
36:Bad Livers
28:Mark Rubin
23:Mark Rubin
269:The Times
202:Sing Out!
129:accordion
73:bluegrass
63:Killbilly
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559:T&T,
552:Semitism
439:Canada.
404:Infamous
337:KlezKamp
293:Electric
133:mandolin
844:YouTube
169:of the
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125:fiddle
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101:banjo
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