Anxious to get the NEW RELEASES??

Skip directly to the Good Loser Club CD or the new Mark Donato CD

This is a graphic design studio, but from time to time we like to bypass our workaday existence and unleash an item of quality into the world without regard for commercial constraints or even common sense. For 15 years, Rag & Bone Shop has been putting out records of music we love. For the past few years, the pace has been, um, sporadic. But we are back. Good golly, we are back. Two brand new releases, our full back catalog, and big plans for the future. Great music, lovingly designed. Do take a look, listen to loads of free mp3s below, and then buy as many copies as you can of everythingl. You can purchase directly from us using the Paypal links after each item. Also, most items are available at cdBaby, Amazon.com, and download sites like iTunes and eMusic. Questions, conundrums, a quaint desire to pay us by check? Please email us. Check out the blog for show info, rare mp3s, etc., or go back to Rag & Bone Shop central command.

Why aren’t there statues of this man planted in every town in America? Is he the love-child of Jad Fair and Richard Manuel and Loudon Wainwright and Jerry Garcia and Elvis Costello? John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants called Mark Donato “one of the best songwriters around.” What did he mean? Around what?? You owe it to yourself to find out. Visit Mark Donato’s website for lyrics, gigs, etc. Or see his MySpace page for some more songs and a video once we make it. Three gorgeous albums available for your edification.

I Haven’t wasted All this time Alone (2006) new release
Brooklyn’s greatest songwriter moved upstate a while ago and is now upstate New York’s greatest songwriter. This is his first new album in 5 years. Rob Meador, Jonathan Gregg, Doug Pierson, Seth Warnock, Mike Ralff, Philippa Thompson, Al Houghton and others sweeten the stew. Listen to “Architect of Open Spaces.”

THE OLD JOY (2001)
Mark Donato's second full-length CD speaks to the twisted heart of our times. In the evolving tradition of songwriter-performers such as Randy Newman and Ray Davies, Donato sets indelible short stories to music with the power of pure pop. “You’re always thirsty as you're leaving the house,” he begins the record, “you think you know what it means.” But of course you don’t. In the bottomless “One Out of Three,” a patient waits for a heart transplant, or maybe just a change of heart; both are slow in coming. Reggae twang melts into rock and roll that flows into a heaven of pedal steel. Listen to “You Think You Know What it Means.”

Mark donato sings “i’m Flapping” and other favorites (1996)
Fans of luscious quirky pop, take note. A funnier, more tender debut cannot be imagined unless your imagination is one of those problem imaginations that some people have. This CD comes in a beautiful letterpressed diecut package that you won't want to spill food or coffee on. Listen to “Ms. Breath and Mr. Go Away.”

GOOD LOSER CLUB (2006) new release
Three songwriters take a break from their regular bands and make an album in three and a half days in a room above a garage in the Catskills. Frank Randall, Mark Lerner, and Mark Donato are joined by guitarist Chris Erikson for music inspired by the city, the mountains, changing diapers, nice old analog equipment, and sleep deprivation. Listen to “What Henry Said.” Visit the band’s page at MySpace for more songs. Or best of all, buy the CD.

A New Broom Sweeps Clean, But An Old Broom Knows Every Corner (2001)
Giant wondrous band led by Mark Lerner (Flat Old World, Life in a Blender, John Linnell and the Statesmen) and Nancy Lynn Howell (Flat Old World, Clovis Noches, Mono Puff); aided by Lianne Smith, Tom Laverack, David Goldfarb, Reuben Radding, Kurt Hoffman, Brian Dewan, Philippa Thompson, Jon Feinberg and many more. “Required listening... a bittersweet, sophisticated Lefty Frizell-meets-Lee Perry sort of thing, ” says the Village Voice. Lots of instruments, lots of vocalists, and cross-pollination between American folk idioms (bluegrass, old-time music), Jamaican music (reggae, dub), ye olde punke rocke, and chamber music. Listen to “Rain Boy” and “Wheel and Come Again.”

THE SYCAMORES (1995)
First album by the pride of Minneapolis. Taller than Prince and twice as blue, singer/guitarist Frank Randall crafts a debut album that shrieks, mourns, bounces, rolls over, and plays dead. Randall is supported by longtime drummer Dave Downey and others including Jon Duncan, Dave Boquist, Adam Levy, Jacques Wait, Mike Wisti, and Slim Dunlap. (The Sycamores ’ other 2 full-length albums, Listening Skills Program and Realizer, are out on Veto Records. Visit the band’s website for more info.) Listen to “Sing Angel.”

three french henS (2003)
Ring in the yuletide season with 3 Christmas originals by the Sycamores: “Wintertime,” “Bellringer,” and “Santa Claus Girl.” Hand-silkscreened packaging for this EP, limited to an edition of 250 copies.

Musicale (1994)
First full-length album by the gigantic New York folk-punk-country ensemble, following their Hello Recording Club EP and appearance in Handle Like Eggs. Comes in a letterpressed fake jewel box stuffed with typographic ephemera designed by the band. Hear why critics call Flat Old World “big” and “slow” and “sad.” The heartbreaking vocals of Nancy Lynn Howell, the drunken wheeze of tempos that make Salvation Army bands sound peppy by comparison, the joyful noise of tubas and banjos and fiddles and distorted guitars...buy the CD yes yes yes. Listen to “Likes Liquor Better Than Me” and a live non-album version of “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?”

The Abasement Tapes (with new bonus track!) (1996)
In January 1996, Flat Old World played its last show. “What matters is the final product/The creation business is pot luck.” Try your luck with this heartbreaking 8-song final product that hints at the second album we ’ll never get to hear. Lullabies, dub excursions, and tears aplenty. It’s the end of the world. Previously available as cassette only, now available on CD (a burned CD-R, actually) with a bonus track, “Mr. Bones,” featuring vocals by Don Ralph of Life in a Blender. Only $8. Crappy art, though. Listen to Flat Old World ’s yodelgasmic lullaby “Sleep, Baby, Sleep.”

Handle Like Eggs (1992)
The sampler that put Rag & Bone Shop on the map (map no longer available). 3 flexidiscs. 13 songs by Bob Wiseman, Julia Douglass, the Sycamores, Flat Old World, the Denver Gentlemen (later 16 Horsepower), Mark Donato & Canoeful of Strangers, and Thomas E. Adelman. Praised in Spin and Rolling Stone. Very limited supply, only available by trade. Send us something interesting (Rag & Bone Shop, 32 Waterworks Rd., Phoenicia, NY 12464), and we'll send you this.