The Bush Hogs are such an unbelievably great band that it’s absolutely heartbreaking that A) They don’t play more often than they do and B) That they don’t have a stack of albums on the market. But with guitarist DM Bob keeping the South Louisiana swamp sound alive in Germany with his famed one man and two man combos, the Hogs only manage to get together every few years. In the last decade and a half I’ve seen them tear the house down a handful of times but their recent Jazz Fest gig at the Circle Bar had to be the best ever. I don’t know if this band has ever written any songs nor do I care. Like Tav Falco’s Panther Burns and the Detroit Cobras, head Hogs DM Bob and Rick “Rico” Olivier are such exquisite musical ditch-diggers with such widely varied tastes that they practically render the songwriting process useless. They are stylists, to swipe a term from old Jerry Lee. On this particular evening, Rico styled Aaron Neville’s “Tell It Like It Is” and Guitar Junior’s “The Crawl” into versions that essentially rivaled the originals (!) while Bob rewrote the Cookie and the Cupcakes’ rendition of “Got You On My Mind” into an accordion-fueled Jimmy Reed-style number that immediately filled the dance floor. Both of them are fantastically skilled yet spontaneous guitar players, booming out of Rico’s tube-driven Montgomery Ward amplifier and switching to drums to back each other up while Red DeVeccha solidly held down the upright bass spot. Whether singing alone or in harmony, their vocals were impeccable. After two hours of righteous rockin’ they turned over the stage to the Plowboys who sounded better than I’ve ever heard them. Dave Clements’ vocals were particularly strong as he belted out his classic “Don’t Treat Me Like I Treated You.” I could go on but won’t; suffice to say that the dance floor was never less than packed into the wee hours of the morning.