The Holy Modal Rounders

At the heart of the Holy Modal Rounders were Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber, two hip young folk fans bewitched by the old-time sounds of folk, country, and blues artists as heard on Harry Smith's seminal ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC. Channeling the spirit of what critic Greil Marcus calls "the old, weird America," the Rounders created their own quirky version of that music. A couple of their albums in the '60s included more rock-oriented players (including playwright Sam Shepard on drums) and resulted in some mind-bending avant gardisms, but the folk format was always the Rounders' focus. After their breakup, Stampfel recorded numerous solo records, but at the end of the '90s he reunited with the ever-erratic Weber for live shows and recording.