Nobody has done more to keep polka music varied and vibrant than Brave Combo, the genre-busting quintet from Denton, Texas. For more than 25 years, they’ve been winning over listeners to their unique melting pot of musical styles. According to bandleader Carl Finch, their goal is to “break down people’s perceptions about what’s cool to like in music. Our deal is to shake up people’s ideas about what they label hip, or right or wrong.”
The two-time Grammy winners have a new album out, Polka’s Revenge, that continues that tradition by mixing rock and Tex-Mex-inspired polkas with old-world waltzes, schottisches, and obereks. Of the album’s twenty tracks, four are Brave Combo originals and the rest are new renditions of classics by polka greats like the Connecticut Twins, Wanda and Stephanie, and the Ampol Aires.
And, as if you needed another reason to attend the Cotati Accordion Festival later this month, Brave Combo is one of the headliners and will be performing on both Saturday and Sunday.
Brave Combo: The Innocent Gadfly (MP3 sample)