SEASON 25 Continues

BOOT JUICE is a seven-piece high-energy rock ‘n’ roll / Americana act from Northern California, notorious for their barn-burning live shows that get entire crowds on their feet dancing: a reputation earned from recent performances at legendary venues like The Fillmore and Dillon Amphitheater, festival sets at Treefort, High Sierra, and Golden Road Gathering, and packed club shows all across America during their many years on the road. 

The group’s fervently-anticipated fourth album, Keeping Out Of The Ground (out 3/20) exemplifies the tradition of kickass eclectic American rock ‘n’ roll: With three vocalists, dueling acoustic and electric-guitar shredding, a bawdy horn section, and driving, soulful rhythms, the album offers everything from groovy, danceable bangers (“Hard Time for Hard Times”, “Slingshot”, “Struggles”) to heavy, show-stopping rock anthems (“Try Again Tomorrow”, “Rise and Shine”, “Boise”), and tender, swinging ballads (“Anywhere With You”, “Love From Here”, “Keeping Out of the Ground”). Throughout it all, the band sends a poignant message: Despite everything going on in the world and the hopelessness creeping in around us, the best thing we can do is push it through, keep ourselves out of the ground, keep showing up for ourselves and our neighbors, and forgive ourselves when we just need to try again tomorrow.

Though they call the Sacramento, California area home, Boot Juice originated in 2017 deep in the mountains and rivers of Idaho and Northern California, where husband-and-wife duo Connor Herdt (vocals / acoustic guitar) and Jessica Stoll (vocals, mandolin) worked outdoor jobs like raft-guiding and ski patrol. Herdt’s close friend and former member, Evan Daly (vocals / electric guitar), would often come out to visit and the two would do what they’ve done since they were young kids: sit around and shred on guitar together for hours. Stoll, who has done all of the band’s artwork (album covers, merch designs, tour / show posters – you name it) since the band’s early days, joined the band as a vocalist and mandolin player, balancing Herdt’s heartfelt crooning and Daly’s raspy, rock ‘n’ roll bellows with her soulful, resonant pipes.

When they played music together, it would often turn into an impromptu backwoods show for fellow river/recreational workers, earning them their earliest diehard fans. This era also inspired their band name: Boot Juice is a nod to the whitewater kayaking tradition in which a kayaker who “swims” (flips their boat) has to drink a beer from their shoe, thereby appeasing the river gods – and also turning their day around after enduring a dangerous situation. It’s also a way of saying, “Put on your dancin’ shoes, Boot Juice is coming to town.”

Herdt and Stoll were already used to life on the road prior to becoming touring musicians: The two of them lived in a school bus (along with their late golden retriever, Huckleberry, who is memorialized on the single artwork for “Hard Time For Hard Times”), so it felt natural to take the next step and hit the road with the band. The three joined forces with bassist (and Daly’s cousin) Brett Worley and a collective of horn players and percussionists, eventually evolving it from an Americana-centered group to the dynamic, high-octane rock ‘n’ roll act it is in the present day. The current lineup includes trumpet-player Rosie Mendoza (Nineteenth Operator), saxophonist Madison Armstrong (The Gold Souls), and drummer Cody Naab (Smokey The Groove). (Naab was actually tricked into being a member of Boot Juice when he was invited to fill in on drums for “one show” a couple of years back. He has been locked in the tour van ever since, with the exception of being let out briefly to perform onstage each night.)

The band released Speaking In Tones (2019), Shifting Gears (2021), and The Right Place (2023) while touring almost nonstop, taking a brief pause to record Keeping Out Of The Ground before a massive season of touring begins again. Keep your dancin’ boots by the door so you’ll be ready the next time they roll into your town – and chances are, that’ll be very soon.

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