“The Grand Pooh-Bah of Denton bands, Brave Combo, is in many ways the template from which all the rest are cut: eclectic and artistically ambitious, with a high degree of musicianship and a strong DIY ethic.”
Dave Sims, Paste Magazine
“At last, a band that rocks the brain as well as the feet.”
Jeff Spevak, Democrat & Chronicle
“…nearly every Brave Combo show is a celebration in itself. Even if you come for the party, you’ll leave with something of a musical education. The group throws all manner of world dance music into the mix, including polka, ska, meringue, hora, conjunto and zydeco.”
Daniel Durcholz, Riverfront Times
Taking the term “world beat” to a stellar level, they respectfully mash up dance rhythms from beyond Poland: Mexico, Africa, Argentina, Cuba, Jamaica, Japan, Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Frankie Yankovic’s secret timeshare in the Vienna Woods, the Wurstfests of Middle America, Ricky Ricardo’s Tropicana nightclub, inner-city Detroit, the Lower East Side, and that weird and wonderful land called Hollywood. If you’ve only heard the theme from “Rosemary’s Baby” with Mia Farrow la-la-ing through it, you have no idea what a beautiful waltz it is until you hear Brave Combo’s gentle cabaret treatment of it.
Kelly Clarke, Texas Rising Star
“Using polka music as their jumping board, the Brave Combo live up to their name by crossing polka with jazz, rock, blues and more. They’ve won two Grammy Awards since their inception in Texas in 1979, as well as played nearly every major music festival around the nation. Irreverent, entertaining and extremely talented.”
Santa Cruz Sentinel
“Founded in Denton, Texas, Finch’s hometown, Brave Combo is best known as the band that takes any and all types of material — psychedelic rock, ethnic folk songs, anthems both religious and national, hackneyed standards, and so forth — and turns it into tightly played, infectious dance music.”
Pasatiempo! Santa Fe New Mexican
“Describing Brave Combo to the uninitiated is like trying to explain cheese to someone who’s never tasted it: You know they’re gonna love it, if you could just convince ’em to try it. ….. Any human with a pulse will love this band. Yet it’s hard to explain their music honestly without mentioning the P-word. Despite the fact that they rock to a rainbow of rhythms–bolero, bossa nova, bubblegum, cha cha, charanga, conjunto, cumbia, dirge, foxtrot, guaguanco, hora, huapango, mambo, merengue, Muzak, oberek, ondo, ranchera, rhumba, rock, salsa, samba, schottische, ska, stroll, tango, twist, two-step, waltz, and zydeco–they’ve always described themselves as a “nuclear polka” band. “
Dusty Rhodes, Illinois Times
