Hogmolly is based in Springfield, Missouri, in the foothills of the beautiful Ozark Mountains. Matt Calton (Mandolin, Fiddle), Bo Brown (guitar, dobro, mandolin), Jeff Sowards (Bass) comprise this acoustic-electric vocal group that has recieved much attention on the club and concert circuit in the last three years.

"Hickadelic Jazzgrass", their recent debut album of original music with R-Own Records, is drawing critical acclaim throughout the Midwest, and a second CD is currently in progress.

Hogmolly's music fuses bluegrass, rock, funk, R&B and swing into a high-energy original sound, sometimes funny and quirky, sometimes downright weird, but always with a rockin' edge. The group's tight vocal harmony sound ranges from screamin' gospel blues and high lonesome bluegrass to 60's rock, accentuated with blazing instrumental picking by Matt and Bo, and laid on a foundation of Jeff's intricate bass lines. The soundtrack to the movie "O Brother, Where art Thou?" has allowed the mainstream to discover"roots music ", and a learn a secret long known by a relatively small, but dedicated following: this music speaks to the soul. Taking off and running in new directions with this old, yet evolving style are bands such as Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident, Blueground Undergrass, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Yonder Mountain String Band, the legendary New Grass Revival, and local boys Big Smith, to name a few. Creating new genres faster than record stores can label them with names like "Newgrass", "New Acoustic " and "Power Folk", these groups are the new wave of acoustic music. With "Hickadelic Jazzgrass", Hogmolly lays their stamp of originality on the genre, pushing the envelope while still maintaining a reverence for the old masters that came before. At home on a concert stage as well as an intimate coffeehouse setting, these boys will give any audience something to holler about!

Matt comes from a fairly legendary musical family. Anyone around the bluegrass scene in southwest Missouri for the last 30 years will recognize the name of the Calton Family Band, known especially by any male music-lovers for the trio of beautiful daughters that did all that angelic singing. Steeped in family tradition, and infused with influences from modern players like David Grisman and Sam Bush, (who, incidentally, Matt wants to be like when he grows up) Matt brings his genetic heritage to bloom with an innovative hot picking style.

He also plays in the area with a brother, nephew, and ex-brother-in-law in the crazed bluegrass group Poco Loco, known for some great music and very strange stage antics. (Of course, Matt being the shy one and all, never engaged in such foolishness to our knowledge) He also plays a mean fiddle, which you will hear as soon as we can get him to play the damn thing in front of people.

Bo's first guitar at age 12 was a disappointment, as he really wanted a train set. After resigning himself to not getting the train, he wound up later playing guitar in a series of bad garage bands in the late 60's and early 70's, culminating with notable local groups Spillwater and Duckburg Times. In 1974 he discovered bluegrass at the Winfield Festival in Kansas, and went on to play with several bluegrass bands in clubs and at Silver Dollar City, picking up the mandolin and dobro along the way. In 1979, he and banjoist John Kendrick formed The Undergrass Boys, a progressive bluegrass band that developed a large regional following, touring till 1984.

He quit music in 1985 to follow a career in ornithology, but returned in 1992 to play with The Bluegrass Zombies From Hell, and later, Da Mullets and Howie and the Hillcats, with whom he still performs today. From what little he remembers of the 60's, the rock influence is still evident in Bo's unique and driving jazzgrass guitar style.

Jeff began his musical career on the banjo at age 13, but trying to pick five strings all at once and sing at the same time was a bit much, not to mention having to listen to all the banjo jokes. He picked up the bass guitar, and by age 17 was perfecting his vocal style and playing bass with Outlander, winner of the Hugo OK Bluegrass Band Contest.

Jeff later hooked up with the talented Wynn brothers in Fly By Night (known now as the Bluegrass Action Figures), a popular country-bluegrass band that did a string of concert tours. All this time he had been writing a considerable amount of music, just waiting for a band like Hogmolly to come along and perform it with him. His extreme vocal renditions of everything from R&B and bluegrass classics to hard-hitting, sometimes haunting originals have startled and amazed audiences everywhere, and enabled the band to dispense with mousetraps, bugspray and flypaper wherever they rehearse.