2008 Woodie Awards
Water Street Hot Shots
Let's rock with Dr. Mock
Justin Lyman
Issue date: 12/10/03 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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It's 8:00 on a Sunday night, and the last place you would expect to find about half a dozen college students would be in a bar... wait this is Wisconsin, but would you expect them to be listening to music that is up to four times older than they are? Well, that's the kind of music you'd find playing at the Water Street Pub on any given Sunday night. The Water Street Hot Shots play what is called "old time music," which is on a more basic level Folk, Blues, and Jazz from the 1920's and 30's.
The Hot Shots have strong connections with Lakeland. The group consists of Sociology professor Alan (Doc) Mock on guitar; Michael Lee Ammons, husband of Dr. Meg Albrink, on guitar, mandolin, mandola, and banjo-mandolin; J.R. Fenner on stand up bass; and Rich Higdon on washboard. Unfortunately, Rich Higdon was not able to make the performance on Sunday December 7.
The guys have been playing together at the Water Street Pub for nearly three years now, and Ammons himself had been playing there for about a year before that.
"We play for the fun of it. We play for whatever we get in tips." That's very true; they play for whatever they receive from the patrons of the bar at the time, and the jar fills up fast.
They are not all business though, they take breaks to go out and talk with the people there to see them. They also interject a bit of comedy into their sets. While Doc was fiddling with his mandolin strap, Ammons said, "We'll be ready in a minute, folks, as soon as Doc Mock gets his strap on," making an obvious reference to something else.
Old Time music is gaining more and more popularity these days as people become aware of it. In fact in 2000, the Grammy Album of the Year was the soundtrack of O' Brother, Where Art Thou, an old time or "roots" album. The Album won a total of five Grammies that year.
Roots is the music created by mostly southern people that tells stories ranging from lost love to the perils of farm work.. In fact, one of the songs the Hot Shots performed was the best known song from that album, "Man of Constant Sorrow," which had most of the crowd clapping and singing along, many of them from the Lakeland community.
The Water Street Hot-Shots play from 8:00-10:00 or whenever they feel like quitting. The Pub is at 931 Water Street, which is also North 12 Street.
The Hot Shots have strong connections with Lakeland. The group consists of Sociology professor Alan (Doc) Mock on guitar; Michael Lee Ammons, husband of Dr. Meg Albrink, on guitar, mandolin, mandola, and banjo-mandolin; J.R. Fenner on stand up bass; and Rich Higdon on washboard. Unfortunately, Rich Higdon was not able to make the performance on Sunday December 7.
The guys have been playing together at the Water Street Pub for nearly three years now, and Ammons himself had been playing there for about a year before that.
"We play for the fun of it. We play for whatever we get in tips." That's very true; they play for whatever they receive from the patrons of the bar at the time, and the jar fills up fast.
They are not all business though, they take breaks to go out and talk with the people there to see them. They also interject a bit of comedy into their sets. While Doc was fiddling with his mandolin strap, Ammons said, "We'll be ready in a minute, folks, as soon as Doc Mock gets his strap on," making an obvious reference to something else.
Old Time music is gaining more and more popularity these days as people become aware of it. In fact in 2000, the Grammy Album of the Year was the soundtrack of O' Brother, Where Art Thou, an old time or "roots" album. The Album won a total of five Grammies that year.
Roots is the music created by mostly southern people that tells stories ranging from lost love to the perils of farm work.. In fact, one of the songs the Hot Shots performed was the best known song from that album, "Man of Constant Sorrow," which had most of the crowd clapping and singing along, many of them from the Lakeland community.
The Water Street Hot-Shots play from 8:00-10:00 or whenever they feel like quitting. The Pub is at 931 Water Street, which is also North 12 Street.