Boothill Crooners celebrate their debut release (9 photos)

It's been a long time coming, but finally Tidal Records recording artists The Boothill Crooners have something for fans to take home with them.

The band celebrated the release of its debut full-length recording Friday night at Loplops, sharing stage time with label mates The Pixo Control, Shannon Moan, Frank Deresti and the Lake Effect, and Dustin Jones and the Rising Tide.

What began eight and a half years ago for fun as brothers Sheldon (vocals, acoustic guitar, fiddle, harmonica, percussion) and Marshall (upright bass, vocals) Jaaskelainen reworked a few classic blues tunes, has now grown into the popular alt-folk band that we have today, picking up additional members Tyler Marshall (banjo), Dave Bahun (guitar) and Frank Deresti (mandolin, vocals) along the way.

The Boothill Crooners typically perform and interesting mix of original compositions and covers - some more unexpected than others - from the likes of The Devil Makes Three, Old Crow Medicine Show, Hank III, Ray Charles, Tom Waits, and The Beatles.

"A lot of thought goes into the covers that we do and if they'll translate well or not to the instruments that we play. Sometimes to a fault," Sheldon told SooToday.

Not only is Sheldon the band's principle songwriter, he's also the group's multi-tasker, often playing three instruments at once while also covering vocal duties.

"It had a lot to do with boredom out at my house during the [winter] months years ago," he explained. "I experimented with instruments and the things I had around me, trying to beef up the alt-folk kind of sound as opposed to just playing acoustic guitar... It was more or less to create a distraction in regards to my lack of expertise on the guitar."

While he downplayed his ability, Sheldon is a high-demand local fiddle player who can also 'get by' on piano, guitar, drums, mandolin, banjo and harmonica.

"There's some other instruments that I just leave at home. Bugle? Who wants to hear somebody play the bugle poorly?" he joked.

Recorded at Mission Control Studio with Dustin Jones at the helm, The Boothill Crooners' ten-song self-titled debut release is available now at Case's Music on Queen Street East, The Rad Zone in the Wellington Square Mall, and online here.

Follow the band on Facebook, or visit the Tidal Records website for more information and tour dates.

(PHOTO: The Boothill Crooners played to a packed house during their CD release celebration at Loplops on Friday, March 20, 2015. Donna Hopper/SooToday)

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