Pokey Lafarge

In early 2018, LaFarge — searching for the sort of artistic freedom and inspiration he wasn’t finding in the Midwest — relocated from his longtimehome base of St. Louis, Missouri, to Los Angeles, California. New songs came quickly to LaFarge in his new environment, but new temptations soon found him, as well. Though he declines to get into specifics, LaFarge admits that he experienced a significant “fall from grace” during the last months of 2018. “Things sort of started to unravel in my mind,” Shortly before the recording of Rock Bottom Rhapsody began, LaFarge experienced a spiritual awakening — and the faith he re-embraced in his hour of darkness helped to buoy him through the making of the album.

Pokey LaFargeʼs 7th studio solo album, In the Blossom of Their Shade, showcases the positivity of coming out of the darkness and into the light. When the 2020 global pandemic hit, LaFargeʼs rigorous work ethic powered him through the potentially challenging creative period. As days became a couple months, songs blossomed from embryonic ideas into full-formed ones and he was ready to move on, which typified his mindset as a working artist. With this record LaFarge captures the thematic notion of being the perfect summer afternoon soundtrack…the type of music you want to listen to while having a cocktail with your significant other. It makes sense musically as well — LaFarge intentionally crafted songs that created space and have melodies that can glide throughout a composition thatʼs a far cry from the swing and blues-infused songs of his earlier work. LaFarge is an artist who refuses to rest on his laurels and compromise. Heʼs always motivated and ready to create. With In the Blossom of Their Shade the album is one of LaFargeʼs strongest and most mature efforts to date.

Pokey LaFarge - Something In The Water (2015) {Rounder Records 11661-36919-02}
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© 2015 Rounder Records / Concord | 11661-36919-02
Americana / Jazz / Blues

Some artists who evoke the styles of the past seem to have spent every waking moment of their adult lives struggling to sound as if they were born in a different decade. Pokey LaFarge, on the other hand, makes music that suggests he somehow passed through a wrinkle in time from 1929 to 2015, complete with his banjo in hand; LaFarge's music never seems forced, but flows from him naturally with an easy grace, a playful insouciance, and a confidence in his talent that stops well short of arrogance.

Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three - Live In Holland (2012) {Free Dirt Records DIRT-CD-0068}
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© 2012 Free Dirt Records | DIRT-CD-0068
Americana / Jazz / Country / Folk / Ragtime / Country Blues

Americana music phenomenon, Pokey LaFarge and The South City Three are winning the world over with their incredibly energetic and intense live shows. Their latest album, Live in Holland, is the first recording that captures the potency of these performances. Recorded in April 2012 at the legendary Paradiso in Amsterdam, Live in Holland shows the band skillfully delivering 14 songs of western swing, early jazz, ragtime, Appalachian folk, and country blues. They deftly combine each song to create their signature authentic, yet uniquely contemporary sound.

Pokey Lafarge and the South City Three - Riverboat Soul (2010) {Free Dirt Records DIRT-CD-0060}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 265 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 98 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 2010 Free Dirt Records | DIRT-CD-0060
Jazz / Blues / Americana / Country / Folk / Ragtime / Country Blues

Pokey LaFarge is a musician, songwriter, bandleader, entertainer, innovator and preservationist, whose well rounded arsenal of talents has placed him at the forefront of American music. Over the last decade, Pokey has won the hearts of music lovers across the globe with his creative mix of early jazz, string ragtime, country blues and western swing, all while writing songs that ring true and fine in both spirit and sound. His music transcends the confines of genre, continually challenging the notion that tradition-bearers fail to push musical boundaries. Cleverly striding between numerous forms of traditional American music, Pokey has crafted a genre all his own, marked in its accessible ingenuity.

Pokey LaFarge tries to make sense of trouble he's seen and trouble he's been in. This is the Great Why of his unending passion for songwriting. Each chord, each riff shades the stories he sets up in his lyrics, always in search of the purest truth within the 10 forlorn, haunting melodies on Manic Revelations. A musician, a storyteller, a narrator of the messy, unkempt American experience…Pokey LaFarge sits, he watches, he writes. Everything that's worth happening happens in his songs. From the broad social narrative of 'Riot In The Streets' to the internal tension of 'Must Be A Reason' and 'Bad Dreams' to the profound alienation of 'Silent Movie,' these Manic Revelations are questions, they are answers, they are an epoch for Pokey LaFarge.