Courtesy of Third Man Records
The last time we name-checked Pokey LaFarge on Look-Listen was waaaaaaaaaaaay back in March 2012, when Thomas Crone spotted him at the St. Louis Record Show. We asked Pokey about it, and got treated to a mini-history lesson. "A lot of recordings from the 78 era, the artists never survived into the 45 era," he explained. "And then when it came to the LP era, a lot of 'em were never put back onto the LPs. Some very rare muscians were lost in the 78 era and the 45 era. And the same thing for the LP era; some people never survived that. So it's fun to look through the three different kinds of records and find the rare stuff that you know you'll never find in another recorded medium." By example, he mentions western swing band Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies, and solo artist Jenks Carman. "He was from Kentucky," LaFarge says. "He was half-Cherokee and it's this crazy slide guitar and yodeling kind of thing, and enigma that'll really mess with people's heads."
Of course, we called him because we were more interested in his record, which gets an early release tonight at the Casa Loma Ballroom before its official street date of June 4. Titled Pokey LaFarge, the album is being released by Third Man Records, Jack White's label. On Saturday, Pokey and his band will be in Nashville to play at the Blue Room, and record a direct-to-acetate live track for Third Man's Vault Series. Tonight, though, LaFarge and his band will just be focused on playing a big, rollcking concert for their fellow St. Louisans.
"We'll be playing songs off the record, old songs of mine, songs that're unrecorded and unreleased," he says. "We'll have some special surprises that people have never seen us do on stage. We'll have a different ensemble, and special guests that I've never performed with. Also it's just a legendary venue that will definitely do justice to the crowd that we hope will be turning up, and to the music that'll be played that night. Fun, thing, too, it'll be a real Cherokee Street experience—we have a mariachi band opening the show, and we have Little Rachel and Doormat from Rum Drum Ramblers, they have a side project called the Root Lock Gang, so they're going to be playing that show as well."
If you're not familar with Pokey LaFarge's back catalog, you might want to start with this profile that Dan Durchholz wrote for our print version back in 2011. Yes, LaFarge's music has been categorized as "old-timey," but he and his band are anything but shallow nostalgists—though they don't just perform early 20th century music, they dress to perform it, suspenders, dapper hats and all. "Part of the reason we’ve become hardened traditionalists in terms of preserving this music is because we’re revolting against things today, just the way you would when you’re a kid—listening to punk rock and revolting against the crappy music being made today, and about how the record business is and how the media has taken over music," he told Durchholz. "You can revolt and listen to this stuff from back in the day, stuff that the media didn’t control.” (Now that you've read that quote, you should hie thee to the band's multimedia page, and keep that in mind.)
If you do know the music of Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three—a mix of jazz, blues, western swing, Tin Pan Alley and the band's own unique vibe—you'll hear some differences in the new tunes, including the first single to be released from the record, an homage to the Midwest called "Central Time."
"It's definitely a bigger sound," LaFarge says. "I have a big ensemble now. it's not necessarily a new sound. Just a bigger one. I have two horn players, a trumpet player and a clarinetist. The new album's got string arrangements on it, and a female vocalist doing harmonies on a couple songs." He says that on past albums, "we didn't have time to record more than two or three days because we tour so much. I wanted to take a little more time, and this is a record that I could do that with. We were on the road a lot with this record, too, so we would do three or four days in different sessions down in Nashville. Ultimately, it was on and off for about three or four months. The guys are still on it, as well as a bunch of other musicians. I'm going to be working toward having an even bigger ensemble in the future." He adds that bringing Ketch Secor (frontman of Old Crow Medicine Show) as co-producer also gave the album a distinct flavor.
Though they've already done a lot of touring this year, including stop-offs at the New Orleans Jazz Festival and Merlefest ("Both of them were rainy, but both very legendary, and very honorable festivals to be a part of...We definitely did our best to make a good impression") this show kicks off an even more ambitious touring schedule that includes a leg in Europe, plus a stop at the legendary Bowery Ballroom in New York and a live performance on World Cafe. "We won't be home more than a week or so for the rest of the year," LaFarge says. "Then, come wintertime, I'll take that off..and probably start to record a new album."
So If you miss them, you can content yourself with a llittle taste of the new record, courtesy of the band's SoundCloud Page: "The Devil Ain't Lazy." You can also listen to an interview on St. Louis Public radio here.
Pokey LaFarge plays the Casa Loma Ballroom, 3354 Iowa, on Friday, May 31, with Mariachi Los Compadres and Loot Rock Gang Opening. Doors open at 7 p.m. The show is all ages; tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. For more information, go to pokeylafarge.net.
