Applying the polka and world-music dance treatment to a most unlikely song lineup ("People Are Strange," "Sixteen Tons," "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," "O Holy Night"),
Brave Combo formed in the late '70s in the small Texas hometown of vocalist and guitarist
Carl Finch, recorded three albums for the self-owned Four Dots label, and later moved to Rounder. The group's line-up, though constantly shifting, began to coalesce around
Finch, horn player
Jeffrey Barnes, bassist
Bubba Hernandez, and either
Mitch Marine or
Joseph Cripps on percussion. After signing with Rounder in the late '80s,
Brave Combo released the 1987 compilation
Musical Varieties before recording nine albums with the label by the mid-'90s. The group also backed up pop figure
Tiny Tim on his last collection of songs, 1996's Girl.
Polkasonic followed three years later, and in the spring of 2000
Brave Combo resurfaced with
Process. After recording a live album for Cleveland International (Kick-Ass Polkas, 2001), in 2003 they returned to Rounder for Box of Ghosts, a collection of classical themes dressed up
Brave Combo style. Among various other recording and performing activities during the 21st century, the band also appeared on avant accordionist extraordinaire
Guy Klucevsek's
The Multiple Personality Reunion Tour in 2012. ~ John Bush