The Story of “Repeating Action Blues”
In August 1993, near the end of recording their self‑titled debut album, The All New and Improved Patented Repeating Action Blues Band realized they were one song short. Founding members — and cousins — Tony Evola, Robert Evola, and Aaron Evola gathered around an old M. Shulz & Company upright piano in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, determined to write the track that would complete the record. As Robert settled in at the keys, they noticed a faded industrial slogan stamped into the piano’s exposed sounding board: “patented repeating action.” Originally a 19th‑ and early‑20th‑century mechanical description cast into upright and player pianos, the phrase felt both oddly technical and unintentionally poetic. It became the spark for a new song.
Working from that slogan, the band built “Repeating Action Blues” piece by piece, pulling lyrics from whatever they could see on or around the piano: decorative carvings in the wood, objects sitting on top of the instrument, and inside jokes only they understood. The result was a playful, self‑aware blues tune that blended genuine musicianship with the band’s trademark humor.
The band name itself — The All New and Improved Patented Repeating Action Blues Band — came from the same moment. Adding “all new and improved” to the mechanical phrase parodied the overblown advertising language of old consumer products and industrial patents. It was a tongue‑in‑cheek nod to their reality: three cousins making heavy, repetitive blues on vintage, worn‑out instruments in the underground recording scene of Murfreesboro and Nashville.
What started as a last‑minute attempt to finish an album became the band’s defining track — a snapshot of their creativity, their humor, their roots, and the analog era they came from.