JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE & BARKING IRONS

BARKING IRONS is very proud to announce our latest collaboration with Nashville guitar-picking man, Justin Townes Earle. Kin to the legendary Steve Earle, Justin will make believers out of every audience he encounters with his exceptionally crafted early country-blues sound. JTE is extremely well-versed in American music and folklore; he is a student of American roots and it shows brilliantly in his ability to craft original songs that sound like they were penned in 1919.

Upon our first meeting, Barking Irons was smitten with this strange character and his funny-sounding guitar as we chewed the fat over Civil War stories and the tales of American infamy.
It wasn't long before we decided that our respective minds would collaborate on something bound-to-be-great.

Barking Irons created this super-soft, vintage quality tee for JTE's Nov-Dec tour with Dan Auerbach. It is titled, "Holdin' Smoke" which came from old bluesman slang for someone whose stylings just cannot be touched by another. Only 200 were produced and that will be it for this particular style so get them while you can: available on JTE's road show.

"JTE Holdin' Smoke" on Dusty Black, by Barking Irons (2009)

MB is proud to be reporting on this masterful collaboration between two kindred spirits with penchants for sartorial excellence. JTE and Barking Irons have just nicked the surface with this one, stay tuned for more cool exciting things happening on this front.

Check out some JTE tunes

ABORIGINAL CITY

The year 2009 is drawing to a close. Before it does, The Mulberry Bend would like to recognize that it was this year that stood as the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's historic arrival into Hudson Bay. He did this of course on his good ship The Half Moon on Sept 12th, 1609.

Manhattan was a very different place back then. More like The Hamptons actually, without the sweater shawls & khakis. Sound enchanting? We have no doubt that it was. Which is why the Dutch decided to move right in. Legend tells of men wading into the waters and plucking whole lobsters with their bare hands. Now if that doesn't make you wonder, perhaps a trip over to The Mannahatta Project will set wind in your sails.



Although it's been around for a little while now, The Mannahatta Project founded by Dr. Eric Sanderson, an Californian ecologist, now offers downloadable data and resources. Information about Mannahatta's once strong biodiversity and the over 55 ecological communities that once thrived in on this island is there for the plundering. Furthermore, if pictures and maps are your speed, you can mess with The Mannahatta Project's 10 different layers of time on the Google Map based overview of the island. That means you can type in your address and rewind time to see what once existed where you do now. Whatever it was, it was probably cleaner and looked a hell of a lot better than you do anyway.