Ghost Cat Rodeo, with its twangy, cosmic country sound, was dreamed up by Jonathan Walsh, one of the band’s original singers and songwriters, sometime in early 2020 or 2021, no one's quite sure. Three of us had played with Jonathan in different configurations for years and years, so it wasn’t a big ask. Jonathan soon found Mark Dobbyn (also of The Whelks and The Bank of Ireland) to play pedal steel and brought in Jet Mullen (who has her own solo career) and after a few months in basement we were off, playing shows at clubs in and out of Rhode Island. Sadly Jonathan passed away in the fall of 2023 and in the wake of that the band took a long pause to think about what, if anything, might happen next. Then in the spring of 2024, with the help of lots of friends, and sets from The Whelks and the All Mighty Cowboys, we put together a show at the original Blue Room in Cranston celebrating Jonathan’s memory. And in the midst of all that we realized it was still fun, there was still a lot there and we began making gradual plans to reconfigure and start playing again. Since then we’ve been playing out regularly, often at Myrtle and monthly at Nick-A-Nees, as well as a number of other spots. In early 2025 we were nominated for two of Motif Magazine’s Rhode Island Music Awards: Favorite Americana and Favorite Country. This spring we were nominated a second time for Favorite Country and we won! We were also featured in the sixth season of RI PBS’s Ocean State Sessions, (Episode 602). So hop on the mailing list, come see us when you can and bring your dancing shoes! Ghost Cat Rodeo is:Jet Mullen, guitar and vocals; Joe Grady, guitar and vocals; Mark Dobbyn, pedal steel and vocals; Bob Asprinio, bass; Ed Hardy, drums; and if we’re lucky, Kirk Anderson on accordion.