THE influences may be almost entirely pre-Second World War and even Bill Monroe's 1940s birth of bluegrass will be described in conversation as one of American music's more recent trends, but sonically there's little sense of revival, let alone nostalgia, about Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three.
This is a band that clearly reveres its forebears but is making music that lives emphatically in the moment.
Suited up like Al Capone’s enforcer, his gangster image enhanced by double bassist Joey Glynn’s brooding resemblance to a young Ernest Borgnine, LaFarge (right) is a storyteller in song. Tales of bootleggers, vote-riggers and general rogues and instructions to his moll to pack her suitcase – and this time do it right – are delivered in the voice of a young man who has seen more of life’s troubles than he probably should have over rhythms that swing and boogie with unstoppable momentum.
Despite the ostensibly downbeat lyrical content, this is joyous music. LaFarge himself can sometimes barely sing for enjoying the rhythms’ feelgood qualities and his confreres’ individual contributions, be they Adam Hoskins’ nimble, exciting guitar runs, Glynn’s energetic slap bass creativity or Ryan “Church Mouse” Koenig’s brilliantly flamboyant washboard playing and river in spate harmonica wizardry.
There’s much improvisation involved, but there are also brilliantly devised arrangements such as the phantom horn section that lifts Garbage Man Blues and the guitar interplay between Hoskins and LaFarge that puts Ain’t the Same aptly in a swing-blues class of its own.
HHHH
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article