the band
The Snake Brothers have been making music in South Jersey for over twenty years. Back in 1973 John, Rob and Eric started a band with Gary Cosden called Lush Pyle and the Carpettes. When Gary left the area for warmer climes, the boys took a brief hiatus but by 1976 they were back on the scene with Michael Hunt in a bluegrass/newgrass band called Smoked Country Jam. SCJ worked as a full-time band until 1979, but then it was time for a break. (An offshoot of their forays into Pennsylvania was the 2003 creation of the Smoked Country Jam Bluegrass Festival. The band reunited for the event.) In the eighties John and Rob played country and bluegrass with Dunegrass, Boothill and Clayville Switch.
The late eighties saw John working as a solo performer along the Jersey shore. One club put him on its marquee as "Ziggy Snake" and the name stuck. Eric began sitting in on the gig, became Iggy, and the Snake Brothers were on their way. Rob started coming around, followed quickly by Mark, who used to sit in with the band in the SCJ days. They decided it felt like a band and never looked back. In 1992 the boys recorded "Hissin' in the Wind" followed by 1998's "South Jersey Waltz". The title song of that second recording caught the ears of the producers of NJN's documentary "A Sense of Place: Artists of the Bayshore". John's original song became the theme of that film. In 2005 long-time friend Ernie came on board and in 2007 the boys got back to recording with "The Snake Brothers at Union Hall", their first live project and the first to feature brother Ernie's guitar skills.
Today the Snake Brothers are continuing along their wandering path, trying to hone the definitions of anarchy and fun.