WHO ARE TRACK DOGS?
“Sun-shiny songs thriving on dark themes behind irresistible rhythms.”
Long-time favourites on the live music scene from festivals to club gigs, Madrid-based Track Dogs have built a very distinctive sound, drawing on folk, Americana, and jazz, but with left-field overtones from Harold Brown’s distinctive contribution on trumpet. The band lineup is completed by Garrett Wall on guitar, ukulele, piano and vocals, Robbie K. Jones on banjo, cahon, panderetas, vocals and percussion, and Dave Mooney on bass, mandolin and vocals, with Brown also contributing flugelhorn and vocals. Theirs is an international line-up, with Wall and Mooney hailing from Ireland, Brown from England and Jones from the USA, Track Dogs draw on these and wider musical heritages, while creating a sound that is uniquely theirs.
Summed up beautifully by Derek Jarman, Americana UK
If they are still new to you, check out recent releases Where to Now? (2022) and Blind Summits & Hidden Dips (2023) to see why they are so hard to pigeonhole.
Formed in the Autumn of 2006 in Madrid around the eclectic line-up of acoustic guitar, electric bass, trumpet and cajón, over the following 18 years they have added banjo, ukulele and mandolin as well as honing their four-part vocal harmonies, now very much an integral part of their sound.
Well-established in Spain where they are based, they are surprising music lovers everywhere. After a fortuitous invitation to the Costa Festival in Ibiza in 2018 they teamed up with Firebrand Music in the UK and have been building their reputation as a live band with performances at Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Wickham Music Festival, Beardy Folk, New Forest Festival, Glastonbury, Broadstairs Folk Week and The Gate to Southwell, to name but a few.
2025 will see the band release their 11th album, The Essential Track Dogs; Tracks Laid, Tracks Covered, a double CD of close to 40 tracks featuring the best of their originals and cover tracks from 2011 to 2021 plus some brand new songs and reimagined versions of already existing tracks.
Those familiar with the band will know, Track Dogs have always dabbled in different styles, from Americana Music, bluegrass, to latino, folk, and even blues. Track Dogs demonstrate that they really play their own genre. What sort of music do Track Dogs play?
The answer is Track Dogs Music.
EPK
CONTACT AND BOOKING DETAILS
For UK Gigs
Vicky Whitlock
vicky@firebrandmusic.co.uk
07779 096997
For Festivals
Amanda Howland
amanda@firebrandmusic.co.uk
07739 561254
For Bookings in Ireland
Mark Downing
mark@amamusicagency.ie
Tel: +353 862 504 795
Press Quotes and Testimonials
Track Dogs were up against festival headliner Badly Drawn Boy. Wonderfully unfazed by this, the band drew one of the biggest crowds of the weekend to the GoldenPlec Stage, cheery, Spanish-tinged acoustic proving a hit with a crowd that wanted to dance.
Vantastival, Goldenplec.com
Track Dogs played 2 shows at Vantastival and both were highlights of the weekend. Their unique show around 1 mic was perfect for the atmospheric smaller stage with their on-point vocal harmonies and rhythmic tribal beat. Their show as headline act for our larger stage was one of the biggest audiences of the weekend and left everyone in no doubt that this is a very very special band.
Mark Staunton, Vantastival Festival Director
Track Dogs play jukebox hits for the apocalypse… If you were looking to mark your card for the end of the world party; head to wherever Track Dogs are playing; for they surely will be playing. Squeeze in at the bar, drink up and thirst no more.
Americana-UK.com
You can make the journey from Laurel Canyon to twelve-bar blues (with a twist) from one song to the next…‘Blind Summits & Hidden Dips’ is packed with inventiveness and surprises around every hairpin bend; you won’t get bored with this anytime soon.
musicriot.co.uk – ****
Their latest album flits from the country-rock of Cover Your Tracks, the brass-boosted Way Of Things and the funk of Blues Brother. Top that all off with a stonking cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon alongside Spanish vocalist Lu Garnet
Daily Express – ****
The good news from this latest release, Blind Summits & Hidden Dips, is that their musical smörgåsbord is as varied as ever, arguably even more so, while the bad news is… Well, there is no bad news…the lyrics and music of the new album also reveal a depth and complexity on repeat listens.
Sometimes what is revealed can be deadly serious, and sometimes it shows they’re a band with a finely tuned sense of humour; two Track Dogs for the
price of one, I’ll settle for that.
Folk Radio
A marvellous melange of a band. There’s a bit of brass in there, a bit of banjo, gorgeous four-part harmonies, sometimes a bit Spanish salsa, sometimes Americana or veering towards folk.
Wickham 2023 Chris Broom, The Portsmouth Daily
…brimming with confident and accomplished musicianship, first-rate vocal performances, and an abundant, utterly infectious, relish of the music itself.
FRUK
The antidote to a bad day.
Maverick
“Groovy” is not a word I often use in this column, but that’s just the adjective I need to describe Madrid-based Irish band the Track Dogs..
The Irish Echo, New York
This band turned out to be a total discovery, with vocal harmonies on a par with groups like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, America or the most melodic
style of, for example, the Eagles mixed in with the graceful irreverence of The Pogues.
Renacer Eléctrico Music Magazine, Spain
…genre-busting acoustic music built around folk, Americana and bluegrass…an album that will delight established fans and gain them plenty of new ones.
RNR, magazine
…based in Madrid and with instruments that include cajon, banjo, ukulele, mandolin and trumpet and, rather obviously Spanish guitar, the quartet serve
up a south of the border fiesta exuberance that defies you not to stomp the heels and play air castanets….the groove is most definitely on.
Fatea Magazine, UK
There’s a rare combination of four great players who also have superb voices, creating stunning individual vocal performances and the almost inevitable perfect harmonies…The playing is outstanding, the harmonies are superb and it’s joyful throughout; just give it a listen.
Music Riot, UK
…a delicious Ameri-Latino mix with – for lovers – the following recipe: one quarter Americana, two parts Latino, a hefty dash of strings…Let the summer
erupt. The Track Dogs are in, let the summer begin! Feelgood festival music!
Keys and Chords, BELGIUM
…a nice melting pot of styles, which have one thing in common: the groove…how special the singing of the four is, across all genre boundaries…this summery album, which is extremely welcome to brighten up your and my bright spring days.
Rootstime, BELGIUM
Track Dogs grab the listeners by the collars. The dance floor beckons and must be entered. The same floor is on fire within thirty seconds…
Real Roots Café, NETHERLANDS
..the adventurous fusion of Americana and folk gets something special with Howard Brown’s ubiquitous trumpet. These Track Dogs have unmistakably
their own sound, for fans of the work of Manu Chao and Calexico…
Written In Music, NETHERLANDS