It all began back in 1996 at an Erik Trauner blues gig. During the course of the evening, Josef Krulis and Werner Dorfmeister got talking about music. They already knew each other from the Vienna rockabilly scene (Josef at that time was the guitarist in the "Torpedos" and Werner was previously the accordion and piano player in the "Legendary Daltons"). They discovered that they shared a common passion for the songs of Bob Wills and Hank Williams. This resulted in a  living-room session with guitar and accordion. In the next couple of years, the majority of the Westernswing repertoire of the current band was developed over coffee in the living-room. When Gerda Heilegger left the lineup of the "Slapbacks" (an authentic rockabilly trio) in 1998, her love for hillbilly music and her authentic voice were well known. She was therefore invited to the living-room sessions to support the duo Josef and Werner both vocally and on acoustic guitar. The idea of a Westernswing band took shape. Shortly afterwards, Richard Meisel (bassist and initial member of the very first Viennese Rockabilly band "Torpedos" and longtime friend and band collegue from Josef) completed the band, and several gigs in and around Vienna followed. In these days, the band abstained from using drums like early Westernswing groups. "Ida Red & The Swinging Hillbillies" was born. During following performances, the core of the band (Josef, Werner and Gerda) was more often supported by various other musicians. The lineup was extended by a drummer (Daniel Klemmer or Franz Dunshirn) and for gigs in Germany Richard Meisel was replaced by Carsten Jone, a double bass player from Munich. At a session for a Grab-the-Flag motorbike race at the Hungaro-Ring in Budapest, the band got to know Frank Brodkorb (steel guitar) and Roland Kaschner (drums) from Augsburg, and were impressed by their authentic (musical) style. A full orchestral line up in the style of the Western Swing bands of the 1930's and 1940's then took shape and the set was worked on during weekend rehearsals in Augsburg, Munich or Vienna. Appearances followed with various lineups in Austria and Germany. At the end of 2002, bassist Carsten Jone left the band. The search for a replacement proved to be difficult and resulted in a visionary solution: Werner Dorfmeister took over the double bass and at the same time recruited Peter Beinhofer (accordionist for the Celtic folk band "Black Bush" and the modern folk band  "Ballycotton) for the Westernswing project. Through Peter's contacts in the local folk scene, fiddler Paul Dangl was recruited shortly afterwards from the Irish rock & reel band "Smoky Finish" to complete the lineup to "Ida Red & The Mountain Melody Stompers". Gigs in Austria, Germany and Italy followed. In the winter 2003 it showed up that an effective co-operation with Frank and Roland could not be kept up due the distance Vienna - Augsburg. The band decided, that Josef should play additionally steel guitar as replacement for Frank. At the same time the difficult search for a new drummer began, because: who knows a jazzy and swinging drummer, who can put the right drive in your music but in a volume, in your living-room without drowning out the acoustic instruments and disturbing your neighbours?After more or less successful rehearsals with diverse drummers, whose understanding for Westernswing music was rather small, the band was near the mark to pass on drums like in the early beginning. But surprisingly and unexpectedly an expedient advice came: Christian Jandrisits (former guitar player from Curtis Jensen and bandleader of Bloo Voodoo) suggested to try the former drummer of Curtis Jensen. So the band did and rehearsing with Peter Prameshuber worked out fine from the first minute and he completed Ida Red & The Mountain Melody Stompers to the current line up! |
