Pokey Lafarge

Pokey LaFarge’s self-styled image as dusty old troubadour extends even to his name, a handle that sounds borrowed from a freight train-hopping, dustbowl-era storyteller of a certain Woody Guthrie vintage. Eight albums on, he’s done little to alter that perception, thanks to a sound that traces its roots to the back porches of America’s heartland. From the sly saunter of opening track “Riot in the Streets” to the vampish “Mother Nature,” LaFarge and his feisty six piece band sound like refugees from the roadhouse circuit, all sass and swagger with plenty of juke jump energy to spare.

Pokey LaFarge's ninth album, In The Blossom of Their Shade, is faithful to the musical tradition established by this St. Louis native. A talented singer and multi-instrumentalist, since his first album Marmalade was released in 2006, he has been working on a unique vision of the world that packs some humour and a particular idea of happiness, a cocktail of folk music from the Midwest with swing, blues, ragtime, and even music from the Caribbean.

Pokey LaFarge makes original Midwestern music. With one foot deep in the heart of the American musical tradition and the other firmly planted in the present, he continually challenges the notion that tradition-bearers fail to push musical boundaries. An eclectic writer and performer, he incorporates elements of early jazz, ragtime, country blues, Western swing, and beyond, transcending the confines of genre to present a sound very much his own. Something in the Water follows on the heels of his last album, released on Jack White's Third Man Records, but comes with an evolution in sound. Treated with a heavier dose of catchy rhythms and traditional drum kit percussion throughout, the 12 tracks on Something in the Water see LaFarge's sound imbued with new life.

'The man singing these songs isn't exactly the same man who wrote them,' says Pokey LaFarge of Rock Bottom Rhapsody, his eighth and latest studio release.

After crisscrossing the nation for the last half-decade looking for a home, Pokey LaFarge found himself in Mid-Coast Maine - Upon arriving, the Illinois-born singer/songwriter/actor pursued a major life change, working 12-hour days on a local farm–a turn of events that catalyzed an extraordinary burst of creativity and redefined his sense of purpose as an artist - Rhumba Country was initially shaped from material that emerged while LaFarge was deep in work on the farm.

"American Epic" compilation series is a collection of releases of music associated with the film series "The American Epic", a historical documentaries are a journey back in time to the "Big Bang" of modern popular music.

Devin Tuel may consider herself to be an artist meant for a different time, but she now finds herself inhabiting her own true place. The singer-songwriter is at home in Newburgh, NY reflecting on her third album, Happier Now, released under her nom de plume, Native Harrow, as well as the difficult sojourn the former ballerina and classically trained singer has had to traverse to become the writer and performer she was meant to be. "This record is about becoming your own advocate. Realising that maybe you are different in several or a myriad of ways and that that is okay. And further, it is about me becoming a grown woman," Tuel says.

Calling all jaded music-lovers. The Ragtime Rumours have come to prick up your ears. In an era when the dead-eyed music industry clings to tired formulas, these time-travelling Dutch visionaries tear up the rulebook - and that rebel attitude is all over 'Rag 'N Roll'. Anything goes on this revolutionary debut album, as the ghosts of Robert Johnson and Django Reinhardt meet the influence of Tom Waits and Pokey LaFarge, driving eleven self-penned originals and one traditional that could have been written in 1920 or 2018."We combine our inspiration for ragtime music with the styles of blues, gypsy jazz and rock 'n' roll," explain the band."We call it rag 'n' roll…"

Rules are there to be broken. Genres are there to be blurred. Perhaps you thought The Ragtime Rumours could never top the fearless alchemy of 2018’s debut Rag ’N Roll – a rebellious collision of vintage blues, offbeat rock ‘n’ roll, gypsy-jazz and quirky storytelling. But with this year’s Abandon Ship, you’ll be happily proved wrong.