The Cash Box Kings

The Cash Box Kings sustain the postwar electric blues tradition of lively juke-joint jump through both faithful revival of the Chess and Sun Records style and original material that confronts present-day issues. Joe Nosek launched the ensemble in 2001 during his teaching tenure at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with the explicit goal of updating blues for contemporary audiences. Chicago blues singer Oscar Wilson joined in 2007, after which he and Nosek guided the Cash Box Kings through multiple personnel shifts across releases on Blind Pig Records. Their 2017 move to Alligator Records for Royal Mint marked a breakthrough; the follow-ups Hail to the Kings! (2019) and Oscar's Motel (2023) showcase the group reinterpreting retro-blues material with energetic wit.

Nosek assembled the initial Cash Box Kings lineup in Madison that same year, shortly after completing his University of Wisconsin degree and commencing English as a Second Language instruction at the school. He drew the band name from a former trade magazine and its sonic approach from the Delta and electric blues he had embraced in his youth, while contributing guitar, harmonica, and vocals. Three early albums appeared on Blue Midnight Records—Live! At the King Club (2002), Black Night Fallin' (2005), and The Royal Treatment (2006)—yet the pivotal shift occurred when Nosek recruited Chicago-based vocalist Oscar Wilson as co-leader in 2007.

I-94 Blues, issued on Blue Bella in 2010, attracted Blind Pig’s interest and led to Holler and Stomp in 2011. Blind Pig subsequently released Black Toppin' (2013) and Holding Court (2015), during which the core membership stabilized around Nosek, Wilson, guitarists Joel Paterson and Billy Flynn, drummers Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith and Mark Haines, bassist Brad Ber, and pianist Lee Kanehira. This configuration signed with Alligator for Royal Mint in 2017. The band remained on the label for Hail to the Kings! (2019), which earned three Blues Music Award nominations and broadened their international profile. Early in 2023 they delivered Oscar's Motel, produced by Nosek and tracked in Chicago.