The Ditty Bops: Bicycling to Peddle New CD

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Moon Over the Freeway is the second album from the Los Angeles-based Ditty Bops.

Sinisha

Moon Over the Freeway is the second album from the Los Angeles-based Ditty Bops.

Sinisha

Enlarge image i

The Ditty Bops — Amanda Barrett (left, front) and Abby Dewald — kicked off their summer bike tour in Venice Beach, Calif., on May 25.

Courtesy of the Ditty Bops

The Ditty Bops — Amanda Barrett (front, left) and Abby Dewald — kicked off their summer bike tour in Venice Beach, Calif., on May 25. Band member Michael "Tuba" Heatherton (left, rear) and Amanda's father, William Barrett, were among the well-wishers and stilt-walkers.

Courtesy of the Ditty Bops

The Ditty Bops' Bike Tour Blog

For its summer tour, the musical duo the Ditty Bops isn't traveling cross-country like most bands. For most of the trip, Abby Dewald and Amanda Barrett are riding their bikes. Dewald and Barnett are promoting their new album, Moon Over the Freeway.

The Los Angeles-based pair set off from California on May 25 and will end the tour on Aug. 30 in New York, performing along the way.

Dewald and Barrett say they decided to travel by bike in order to slow their pace down, see the country and meet people.

The duo's music is a retro mix of cabaret jazz, vaudeville and western swing. Barrett plays the mandolin, dulcimer and washboard, while Dewald plays acoustic guitar. Their act also includes plenty of costumes and props: skeletons, coffins, rollerskates, mustaches and wigs.

They talk about the longest ride they've done so far (113 miles through the Nevada desert), being chased by dogs (an everyday occurrence) and Barrett's rumoured fire-eating abilities (false).