‹ Patton Oswalt is a Funny Guy • Drew Carey, Come on Down!!! ›

Sunday Music Spotlight – M Shanghai String Band

July 22, 2007 in Music, Spotlight by Sean

Put Yonder Mountain String Band and Squirrel Nut Zippers in a blender and you end up with something very much like M Shanghai String Band. Taking their name from the Chinese restaurant that served as their birthplace, the band has provided Brooklyn with a taste of Appalachian flair since their establishment in 2002. They started by playing monthly shows in the restaurant’s basement and even recorded their first album, Up From the Ground Below in the restaurant’s dining room.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about the band. Their song “Devil You and Me” was a pick as Song of the Day back in February. What’s cool about that is a quote from that post has made it into the band’s official bio. Rock on!

The band released their second album, From the Air, on May 29th.

M Shanghai String Band - Tic Tac Toe Chicken

This song brings to mind the tic tac toe playing chicken that the Tropicana Casino in Las Vegas used to have. If you signed up for the casino’s players’ club you got a free chance to play a chicken in tic tac toe. Beat the chicken and you win $10,000. Needless to say the chicken didn’t lose very often.