Biography

Jo Carley and The Old Dry Skulls play a unique hybrid of early 20th Century music infused with dark imagery.  Intense and compelling, they combine 1930’s voodoo sounds with a steamy broth of vaudeville, blues, skiffle, early ska, old-timey country and folk.

 

Singer Jo Carley is smack in the middle of the mix, with a snarl and a twinkle as she uses her sweet melodies to tell of terrible things.   This is made even more bewitching as she switches from fiddle to mandolin to washboard.  The driving force is Tim Carley’s one-man-band set-up with guitar, kick-drum and foot tambourine (the rattlin’ shoe)!  They are joined by multi-instrumentalist James Le Huray on double bass and banjo.

 

‘Shake Them Rattlin’ Bones’ is their second album and was recorded at East London’s Space Eko Studios.    It features nine tales that lure you between the cracks of reality and take you downtown to the underworld, where the hobos and down and outs are up to no good, jug bands hustle for change on poor man’s corner, zombies walk the night and the Voodoo Priestess rules all...

 

Dedicated to the subversive, the world of Jo Carley and the Old Dry Skulls is dark, animated and unusual.  A band that lives to perform, Jo Carley & The Old Dry Skulls seek to amuse and draw the audience into an underworld filled with wonder, the macabre and the imagination.   They have been touring extensively up and down the UK and have taken their show across Europe to some of the best clubs and festivals on the circuit.  

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Links:

Official Music Videos: 

 

Reviews:

"Jo Carley & The Old Dry Skulls were a joy to behold.  Rooted firmly in a bygone era when Voodoo and Black Magic were rife, the audience were all spellbound by the performance and its originality" - Adrian Blacklee - Blues Matters Magazine (UK)

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"... a wonderfully enchanting show where magical songs were scattered." - thenextgig.nl (Netherlands)

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"... a creepy-mischievous touch.  Sarcasm is no stranger to her.  It seems as if she predicts hell in such a way that you have to laugh about it" - Cultuurpakt.be (Belgium)

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“...a steaming broth of cabaret, blues, ska, Vaudeville, voodoo and skiffle. Horror stories are the main course, with a side orders of sex, trouble, and all-night parties” - Hans Werksman - Here Comes The Flood (Netherlands)

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“...riffs and rhythms, stomp and tap, crazy woman on vocals you find yourself waiting for her to cast a spell on you” - Alan Pearce - Blues Matters Magazine (UK)

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"A spooky slab of backwoods punk, mixed with medicine show huckster and old timey roots music. JCODS make deliciously devilish sounds. Something wicked coming this way. Highly recommended" - Folkcast 

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"That nailed it, good stuff. Left of field stomper. A wonderful fusion of trad, old timey, New Orleans Voodoo Queen and morris dancing, I think???" - Mike Harding / Mike Harding Folk Show.

 

"London Junkyard Punk or Punk-yard London Junk?? Multi genre, non specific, absolutely great. Its brilliant!" - Punky Radio 

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