"Listening to their music is like taking a tropical vacation." - San Jose Mercury News

West African palm wine music and American folk and blues all come together to make up the mellow rhythmic sound of the Palm Wine Boys. Palm wine music is West African roots music. Like folk and blues, the roots music of North America, it is the music of the township and village; "an expression of the day-to-day life of ordinary people, the music of their hearts. It tells of their joys, their sorrows, their pleasures and their displeasures" said the late S.E. Rogie, one of the great innovators of the genre. The Palm Wine Boys fuse the lyrical sensibilities of folk and blues with the guitar lines and rhythms of palm wine music to create a new form. They play innovative world roots music.

The rich vocal harmonizing, combined with intricate guitar interplay and lilting rhythms make Palm Wine Boys a fresh, warm breeze in the increasingly stale 'world music' atmosphere - Larry Kelp, KPFA

Palm wine music is a West African style of guitar music, mainly from the countries of Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria. It dates back to the days when Portuguese sailors introduced guitars to West Africa. Early African guitarists played at gatherings where revelers drank palm wine, the naturally fermented sap juice of the oil palm. Their influence can be heard in both highlife and soukous guitar players. In its pure form, palm wine music is mostly acoustic played on a couple of guitars and accompanied by percussion. The late S.E. Rogie, the "Golden Voice of Sierra Leone", is the godfather of modern palm wine music. In the 1950s and 60s, he introduced electric guitars to the traditional acoustic guitar/percussion palm wine configuration. This subtle mix of acoustic and electric guitar reinvigorated palm wine music and it experienced a resurgence in popularity that took palm wine music beyond the shores of its native West Africa. In the 1980s, Rogie lived in Oakland, CA. It was there that Richard Linley, founder of the Palm Wine Boys, learned the style from the master himself. "It completely changed my life", Linley says of his experience playing with Rogie. "I was just really, really searching for a way to express the music I loved; the African music and the folk music together. I'd never heard them played and mixed before even though that's essentially what I was searching for. What I had heard of, of African music, was the highlife, soukous, township jive, all dance type of music, which is great, I love it. What seemed to be going unfulfilled was the ignoring of the songwriting part of myself; my folk roots. I didn't know how to mix the two and hearing him was like 'wow' he was doing what I felt inside."

Combining elements of highlife and acoustic folk, this group calls to mind all that is wonderful about African music: Hope, history, and a bit of joyful tipsiness. - Metro Santa Cruz

The Palm Wine Boys play music of gentle conviviality, soaked in the confidential fluids of the small hours, back country places, front porches, village shade trees, moonshine, and, of course, palm wine. Starting with the roots of both North American and West Africa music, they create music which is simultaneously tranquil and yearning; both invigorating and contemplative. With their intertwining guitars, simple catchy rhythms, and harmonizing voices, this is a group that entices the listener to sit back and enjoy while letting their feet tap on the floor.

The work is soothing with strong lyrics, vocals and harmonies, there seems to be a real sense of calmness.... Linley's vocals are pure ... he is immediately distinctive and his ability at belting out ballad or up-tempo tunes is formidable. -Christopher Anderson, Victory Review Acoustic Music Magazine.

Lifted from notes taken during set one of Palm Wine Boys at WestSide cafe: "I want to relax but I also want to dance and my soul feels like it's spinning in a blender." - Doug Koontz (Doug also reviews several of the songs on the CD Up & Down)- The Frederick News-Post

The Palm Wine Boys take two musical genres they love, American folk and Palm wine music, and blend them perfectly to create a sound responsible for a relaxed kind of high, characteristic not only of Palm Wine, but the Palm Wine Boys. - E. "Doc" Smith- BeyondChron