SongVault Artist Profile

It began as a wintertime whim back in 2000: record 3 yuletide tunes, arrangements inspired by a fab 60's vibe. The Butties released the CD "3" the following year and things started to snowball. In 2005 production completed and the result is "12 Greatest Carols": a collection of (you guessed it) a dozen Christmas carols, including the Butties' version of "Joy to the World" heard on the movie soundtrack of "Christmas with the Kranks" and on the NBC sitcom "Scrubs."

But what's the deal with the name "Butties"?

In the UK, "Butty" is slang for a fairly unhealthy sandwich (popular with a certain Merseyside group) consisting of toasted bread, butter and one other sweet or salty or starchy ingredient (bacon or jam or cheese or chips, etc). Besides this screamingly obvious reference, the word "Butties" happens to look pretty nice on a bass drum (the "B" and the second "T" are in just the right places).

The band started in 1983 as a casual side project for Paul, Sam, Mark and Robbo when they were students at Syracuse University. The group provided an effective excuse to avoid studying and still appear busy. A few years after leaving school and going their separate ways, the lads discovered plenty of pressing responsibilities in the real world, too; despite living in cities thousands of miles apart, they made arrangements to begin playing again. Nowadays the Butties manage to regroup at least a couple times a year, usually playing marathon shows that run from 4-6 hours.