Original incarnation

Fiddle and banjo player Peter Stampfel and country-blues guitarist Steve Weber^[2] were introduced to each other in May 1963 by Stampfel's girlfriend Antonia Duren (or Antonia Stampfel), who was mononymously known as Antonia.^[7][3] Peter and Antonia continued to date into the late 1970s and she received many co-writing credits to the band's songs.^[8][3][5] According to Stampfel, he and Weber began performing together in New York City not long after being introduced.^[3]

Although taking inspiration from classic jug bands^[9] and Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music,^[10] the duo quickly showed an inclination to "update old-time folk music with a contemporary spirit."^[1] Music critic Richie Unterberger noted that they "twisted weathered folk standards with wobbly vocals, exuberantly strange arrangements, and interpretations that were liberal, to say the least."^[11] Stampfel himself described his approach to music at the time: "I got the idea in 1963: What if Charlie Poole, and Charley Patton, and Uncle Dave Macon and all those guys were magically transported from the late 1920s to 1963? And then they were exposed to contemporary rock 'n' roll. What did they do? And that sounded way, way, way more interesting than" faithfully imitating the original arrangements.^[2] During this time, Stampfel also began to change the words and add new verses to the traditional songs they played, noting "I made up new words to it because it was easier than listening to the tape and writing words down."^[1]

From the beginning, the duo's unorthodox approach to covering old-time music was negatively received by some folk purists. Ariel Swartley of The New York Times retrospectively remarked that they stood out in the New York folk scene, in which performers were usually reverential to the material they covered, for "shoe-horning one old-time melody into the middle of another, slipping updated references into archaic laments, making scatological asides or a casual segue to an unrelated fiddle tune and throwing in enough grunts, woofs, whistles and squeals to put both an aging steam engine and a seventh-grade classroom to shame. In short, they offered something to offend everyone."^[12] Despite their seemingly irreverent approach, however, Swartley noted the duo "pursued traditional American music with an archival passion to rival that of the New Lost City Ramblers."^[12] Rolling Stone echoed this sentiment in 1979 in the first edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide, hyperbolically stating that "Stampfel... has a working knowledge of almost every song ever written."^[13]

While some saw their approach as disrespectful, the band attracted a small and devoted following.^[1] Peter Tork of the Monkees was an early fan, saying the duo were "absolutely hilarious" and brought "a whole new level of authenticity" to the scene.^[14] John Sebastian was also a fan^[15] and his band the Lovin' Spoonful utilized the duo's arrangement of "Blues in the Bottle" for their debut album Do You Believe in Magic.^[16] Sterling Morrison of the Velvet Underground praised the Rounders, saying that "the Fugs, the Holy Modal Rounders, and the Velvet Underground were the only authentic Lower East Side bands."^[17] Music critic Robert Christgau thought that the Holy Modal Rounders, like Bob Dylan, "greatly transcend" the New York folk scene they began in.^[14]

The duo released their first album The Holy Modal Rounders in 1964. Recorded the day before John F. Kennedy's assassination, the album contained a version of "Hesitation Blues", the lyrics of which included the first use of the term psychedelic in popular music.^[18][10] Their second album, The Holy Modal Rounders 2, followed in 1965. Although neither received much attention upon release,^[19] they have since increased in status, with Michael Simmons of LA Weekly describing the debut as a "classic of demented archaic country with rhythmic hints of rock."^[10] In 1999, the two albums were combined and reissued as 1 & 2 to positive reviews.^[20][21] Tom Hull, writing in 2004 for the fourth edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide, gave the reissue a four and half star rating, saying "it may have sounded weird way back when, but it sounds fresher than ever today."^[22]

In February 1965, the duo joined The Fugs, not long after the group's formation.^[23] Before their joining, the Fugs had only a hand drum to back up Tuli Kupferberg's and Ed Sanders's lyrics, so Stampfel and Weber offered to be the backing band.^[24] Stampfel and Weber continued to play with the group for several months and they participated in the April sessions that produced the Fugs' debut studio album The Village Fugs,^[24] which included Weber's cult classic "Boobs a Lot" (the Rounders would record their own version of the song on Good Taste Is Timeless). In July, Stampfel left the Fugs and quit the Holy Modal Rounders after growing frustrated with working with Weber.^[6][13] Weber was fired from the group by the end of 1965 for being unreliable.^[25][26]

Lineup expansion

After leaving the Fugs, Stampfel formed a rock band the Moray Eels,^[13] which included his girlfriend Antonia, Sam Shepard on drums, Richard Tyler on piano, and Dave Levi on bass.^[27] Shepard by then was already a noted playwright.^[27] Although Antonia did not play any instruments,^[25] she and Stampfel began a fruitful songwriting partnership during this time.^[7]

In June 1967,^[13] Stampfel and Weber briefly reunited at the behest of ESP-Disk founder Bernard Stollman to record another Holy Modal Rounders album. Released in 1967, Indian War Whoop also included contributions from Shepard and keyboardist (and ex-member of the Fugs) Lee Crabtree.^[13][28] A departure from the old-time music Stampfel and Weber had previously played, Mark Deming of AllMusic later noted the album is "a thoroughly bizarre listening experience" with "neo-psychedelic fiddle-and-guitar freakouts and free-form (and often radically altered) interpretations of traditional folk tunes."^[29]

Because Weber had refused to rehearse before recording Indian War Whoop (which led to an uneven and unfocused project in the eyes of Stampfel),^[11] Stampfel did not intend to reunite with him.^[27] However, the Moray Eels signed to Elektra Records under the condition that Weber would join the recordings.^[27] Thus, Weber came with the Moray Eels, who by this time had replaced Levi with bassist John Annis, as they briefly moved to California to record an album.^[25] During the band's time there, Antonia stopped performing with the group.^[25] The Moray Eels Eat The Holy Modal Rounders was recorded and released in 1968 as the Rounders' fourth studio album.^[11] Featuring a similar combination of traditional music and psychedelia to Indian War Whoop,^[30] the album opens with "Bird Song," which was notably included in Dennis Hopper's 1969 counterculture film Easy Rider and its soundtrack.^[28] Stampfel later expressed dissatisfaction with The Moray Eels because he, the rest of the band, and the producer used amphetamines excessively during recording and Weber again refused to rehearse any songs before entering the studio.^[25][11] When the album was completed, Weber joined the Moray Eels and they began performing as the Holy Modal Rounders.^[27]

Following the recording of The Moray Eels, the band played a number of notable shows, opening for Pink Floyd and Ike & Tina Turner in California in late 1968 and for the Velvet Underground in Boston in early 1969.^[27] Not long after the band returned to New York City in early 1969, Shepard left the group to focus on a movie meant to star the Rolling Stones.^[27] Michael McCarty replaced Shepard on drums.

In Nashville, the band recorded their 1971 album Good Taste Is Timeless,^[31] which saw the band move away from the psychedelia of their past two albums.^[32] Not long before the album's recording, multi-instrumentalist Robin Remaily joined the group while bassist Dave Reisch replaced Annis in February 1971 after the album's recording.^[33] Later in the year, the band relocated to Boston, Massachusetts,^[34] where they added saxophonist Ted Deane and drummer Roger North (previously of Quill and replacing McCarty).^[13] During their time there, they also briefly added Jeff "Skunk" Baxter to their lineup.^[35][36] In 1972, Rounder Records, whose name was partially inspired by the group, wanted to record a Stampfel and Weber album. Luke Faust and Remaily participated in the sessions that became the band's sixth album Alleged in Their Own Time but it mostly featured recordings of just Stampfel and Weber.^[13][25] The album would not be released until 1975.

Soon after the band's return from a three month tour of Europe in 1972 (which Stampfel did not participate in), Weber and the rest of the group relocated to Portland, Oregon.^[37][34] Stampfel stayed behind in New York, effectively leaving the group.^[13] In 1975, Jeffrey Frederick also moved to Portland where he utilized the Rounders minus Weber as his backing band the Clamtones.^[38] The band continued to play with Weber as the Holy Modal Rounders.^[13] A live album Steve Weber and the Holy Modal Rounders, B.C. from a 1976 radio show was released in 2006 by Frederick Productions/Red Newt Records. It is the only commercial album featuring Weber and the Portland band in its heyday.^[39]

In 1975, Stampfel (without Weber) formed the short-lived Unholy Modal Rounders.^[25] The group joined Michael Hurley, Jeffrey Frederick, and the Clamtones in the studio and recorded the collaborative and critically-acclaimed 1976 album Have Moicy!.^[40] In 1977, when the Holy Modal Rounders returned to the East Coast for a funeral, Stampfel reunited with them and recorded Last Round, which was released in 1978.^[13] In 1979, Stampfel and Weber also reunited when Weber returned to the East Coast.^[25] They recorded Going Nowhere Fast, which was released in 1981.

Later activity and reunions

During the Rounders' time in Portland, Stampfel continued to stay active musically,^[25] most notably forming the Bottlecaps, who released Peter Stampfel and the Bottlecaps (1986), The People's Republic of Rock n' Roll (1989), and The Jig Is Up (2004). He also won a Grammy Award in 1998 for writing part of the liner notes for the CD reissue of the Anthology of American Folk Music.^[41]

Weber's touring incarnation of the Rounders continued to be active in Portland until 1995, when Weber returned to his native Pennsylvania after years of substance abuse issues.^[5][42] With Weber back on the East Coast, Stampfel and Weber reunited in 1996 at the Bottom Line, which began a series of reunions for the duo.^[5] They then released Too Much Fun under the Rounders name in 1999. In 2003, the duo intended to reunite for a 40th anniversary show but Weber unexpectedly did not show up.^[5] This was captured in the 2006 documentary film The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose, which was directed by Paul Lovelace and produced by Sam Douglas.^[2] Weber later explained that he did not show up because he felt misrepresented by the filmmakers and was disappointed at the lack of attention directed to the band's days in Portland.^[5][34]

Weber died on February 7th, 2020, aged 76, in Mount Clare, West Virginia.^[5][43] Stampfel noted after Weber's death that he hadn't seen Weber since 2002 and they had last corresponded via email in 2003 when they were arranging the 40th anniversary show.^[4]