Dogtown Hollow

Doors 7PM / Show 8PM

Seated Show

$12ADV / $15DOS

Dogtown Hollow is a group project led by songwriter and singer James Travis (JT) Spartz, a former professor and now writer and musician based in Madison. Madisonians might recognize a few of the fellas in Dogtown Hollow as members of the locally-popular early-2000s group Jim James & The Damn Shames. JJDS played their last gig in 2014 but the guys kept in touch. Spartz moved east to teach at a college in Maine until pandemic-related debacles encouraged his homecoming to the shores of the Upper Mississippi River. Since 2022 he has steadily been writing, performing, and recording with Mason Aumanstal on bass and harmony vocals, Brian Bentley (also of local-band Bing Bong fame) on drums, and stalwart Madison guitar slinger Tim Haub on Telecaster and harmony vocals. The result is a combination of old-school harmony vocals, a rocking rootsy rhythm section, and tasteful guitar work with a splash of harmonica and boot-stomping rowdiness.

Nominated as a 2024 "American Artist of the Year" by the Midwest Country Music Organization, Dogtown Hollow shares its musicianship and songwriting skills on their debut EP "Rivers, Roads & Bridges." While it’s hard to say which tracks might stand out more than others, their collective appeal have caused local music writers to take note. "There's an earthiness in the American music that JT Spartz and Dogtown Hollow create," one Isthmus critic wrote, "one that paves a clean live between classic and pop country. The band is riding high on a shiny new EP... and the group is airtight live."