popwreckoning

Before Frank Turner became a solo artist, he played in a London post-hardcore outfit, Million Dead. When that band fizzled, he decided to strike out on his own, he did so in a very different musical genre, folk rock. Five years post-Million Dead, three solo albums, and two EPs later, Turner finds himself being revered and highly sought after, easily selling out venues at home in the UK. Despite having toured stateside over the last 2 years as support for the likes of the Gaslight Anthem, the Offspring, and Social Distortion, he’s not a household name in America. Yet. But his latest EP released this week, the simply-titled Rock & Roll, should help matters.

Thanks to the BBC, folk gets a lot more attention nationally in the UK than it does here in America, and in Britain, there is a glut of folk and folk rock acts eager for mainstream success. Three reasons I think Frank Turner has come out on top of the heap and succeeded in Britain and in Europe? His down-to-earth persona, his eagerness to communicate with his fans (check out his Twitter and his blog, usually detailing his life on the road but more recently, the difficulties of touring during a freakishly early winter snowfall in Britain), and the protest bent of his lyrics, making him a present-day, Bob Dylan-style folk hero, if you will. He champions the little guy, a position that usually doesn’t translate to fame, fortune, and success in the popular music world. Yet back home in Britain, he’s idolized. I never got into Tom Waits like some of my friends and some of the people in the music business I’ve run into as a blogger. But I imagine for many people, Frank Turner is their Tom Waits.

The melodic guitars and Turner’s engaging vocals make this EP highly enjoyable. “Pass It Along” starts slowly with a folky sensibility. It reminds of how some of Led Zeppelin‘s songs would start off quietly and introspectively before ripping into monster, now classic riffs. (I bring up Led Zep because they are the band that created arguably one of greatest rock ‘n’ roll songs ever, aptly titled “Rock and Roll.”) In the case of “Pass It Along,” it’s at the 3-minute mark that all lets loose for what feels life-affirming. “Rock and Roll Romance” is a short piece, just Turner and his guitar. Simple, yet gorgeous and heartbreaking, all at the same time.

If you feel like the EP is flagging, then “To Absent Friends” reignites the fire. Listening to this song, I’m sure you can feel the excitement that is Frank Turner and his band live, Turner giving his vocal cords quite the workout as piano keys bang. The tune “The Next Round” is the most country of the five on this EP, and is the regretful musings of an alcoholic. What could sound fake doesn’t in Turner’s deft songwriting hands. But the rallying cry of this EP is the anthemic track “I Still Believe.” Turner sings, “who would have thought / after all / something as so simple as rock ‘n’ roll would save us all?” Decades after the first rock ‘n’ roll tunes came out of its rhythm and blues roots, rock ‘n’ roll is still going on strong. And it will continue to thrive with people like Frank Turner, committed to making music under his own terms. This album might not be as aggressive as what is being passed off as “rock” these days, but it’s sure got plenty of substance. And heart.

Track Listing:
01. I Still Believe
02. Pass It Along
03. Rock & Roll Romance
04. To Absent Friends
05. The Next Round

The Rock & Roll EP by Frank Turner will be released on December 07 on Epitaph Records.

Frank Turner: website | myspace

Fall in Philly is a beautiful thing—especially when the soundtrack to the season is one that includes M. Ward, Mike Mogis, Jim James, Conor Oberst AND Bob Dylan. The city has seen itself nearly taken over by both contemporary and classic folk musicians this November—first with Dylan’s performance at the Liacouras Center and then Monsters of Folk festival at the Academy of Music (on the same night, no less.)

To wrap up this folk-themed month, Popwreckoning’s Jess McGinley and her roommate (yours truly) braved the rain-slicked streets of Fishtown Thursday night to see recent MP3 Minute feature and local folk hero Langhorne Slim perform a sold out show at Johnny Brenda’s.

And when I say local, I do mean local: a mere 24 miles up I-95 North lies the little town of Langhorne—a Philadelphia suburb Sean Scolnick (better known as Langhorne Slim) and I both call home [Ed note: proof below]. Slim sums it up perfectly in his song “Hello Sunshine”–“There’s a place I know in Pennsylvania / If you never want to go, well darling I can’t blame ya.” Poignant lyrics, when you consider we’re best known for a Sesame Street inspired water park and the planet’s largest auto dealership.

Langhorne the musician, though, offers much more than our hometown. Perched precariously on a packed balcony above the stage, I watched Slim and company perform in support of their new album Be Set Free.

Sort of like Tom Waits without five decades worth of cigarette smoke, Slim successfully crooned and yelped along with his band for a full two hours. For me it mostly felt like a drunk sing-along with some townies at the Langhorne Hotel bar (better known as the black and white building in the beginning of the music video for “Restless”).

Although his backwoods brand of blues/folk seemed like inauthentic posturing at times, (C’mon man-you’re from Bucks County) there were genuinely beautiful, touching moments throughout the set (“Restless,” “Worries”) and songs that left me teetering back and forth on my bar stool. It was nearly as good as the Dylan concert—if only he’d broken out the harmonica.

Langhorne Slim: website | myspace | @ acl 2008 | interview with

Words: Jennifer Robnett
Photos: Jessica McGinley

On the album Another Side Of Bob Dylan, in the song “My Back Pages,” Dylan sings, “But I was so much older then/I’m younger than that now.” True, that was a kiss off to the “protest songs” thing he’d been pigeonholed with and wanted to escape, but on his next album, he not only abandoned that particular stance, but stylistically began embracing rock and moving away from the acoustic folk that had dominated his music up to that point. In the song, he words his “declaration of intent” paradoxically to increase the power of the statement, but really it makes perfect sense: he had been playing the (older) music of the past up until that point and now he was going to play the (younger) music of the then-present and future. Of course, Dylan never entirely abandoned folk, but rather, he advanced it by electrifying it, filling it with amphetamine-fueled beatnik-inspired poetry and abandoning the limiting three chord structure of traditional folk to pen otherworldly epics like “Ballad of Thin Man” and “Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands.”

The past can’t be ignored, but it’s no place to make a home, or worse, a career. Elvis Perkins and The Dimes aren’t so much folk revivalists as they are folk preservationists, with the latter act going so far as to base the songs on their first album on stories they found in depression era newspapers preserved beneath the floorboards of the guitarist’s house.

The two acts draw inspiration from Americana of more or less the same time period, but they differ greatly in their aesthetics. Perkins’ approach is kind of goofy and not adverse to more electric instrumentation and idiosyncratic brass arrangements. The title track for instance, despite its morbid subject matter involving dedication “till doomsday,” is a jovial, bouncy folky tune with a traditional melody Perkins sings in his quivering, exaggerated tenor.

Perkins’ strength lies in his large, charismatic personality. It’s enough to carry the music, but his music isn’t original enough to carry itself. All the songs on The Doomsday EP are based on traditional folk structures and the lyrics have their roots in either the religious or archaic. Admittedly, in “Gypsy Davy” the topic of underage girls is still relevant, but it’s sung in away that suggests some kind of creepy 19th century perspective. And the straightforward “Stop Drop Rock And Roll” feels like nothing more than an energetic exercise, like something played to warm up the band. Perkins is simply repackaging music that’s been around for decades. He’s not updating it or drawing on it for inspiration like Bob Dylan or Bright Eyes or M. Ward; he’s just remaking it with a funny voice and an electric guitar.

The Dimes fare somewhat better, largely because their songs aren’t so strictly traditional in their structure. The arrangements are very in keeping with the sounds of the period, and the band use all kinds of sounds of the period to tremendous effect: sweeping harmonies are everywhere, supported by various rustic-sounding stringed instruments and all kinds of little bells and whistles. Over the course of The King…, The Dimes try out a selection of musical outfits. In “The Liberator” the band sound dark, brooding singing about the abolitionist newspaper the song is named after; the moving “Save Me Clara” is sung from the perspective of a dying man, begging in vain for “Clara” (apparently Clara Barton, a nurse during the civil war) to save him from his fate; the wispy, ornate “Ballad Of Winslow Homer” is about an American painter of the time who for a period painted scenes of wartime; “Webster Thayter” is a twangy tune about a judge who condemned two men to death, despite the fact that there was very little evidence to suggest they actually committed the crime they were accused of.

The Dimes’ devotion to the past is so deep-rooted and expansive that with a Wikipedia page open, it’s hard not to be pretty impressed by what they’ve accomplished. But despite the strength of the music (which is considerable), in steeping the album so strongly in the past they’ve distanced it from themselves. The emotions don’t quite ring true, but seem secondhand, like echoes from some elsewhere, which they are. And true, an artist can put himself in character and deliver great work, but The Dimes just don’t quite manage to pull it off entirely on The King… Maybe it’s because they focused too much on the history and not enough on the emotions involved, or maybe because they sound too young, or too clean.

The artistic and commercial success of Fleet Foxes and M. Ward and any number of great contemporary folk and Americana artists prove that the genre is still as valid and full of potential as any other, but looking at great bands and artists like the aforementioned, it’s not greatly apparent that there’s a thin line between paying tribute to the music of the past and indulgently recreating it. But there is. The past had its music, its stories, and its culture and those aren’t going anywhere. It’s up to the artists of today to give the present its own music, stories and culture.

Elvis Perkins: website | myspace | @ bonnaroo | @ sxsw
The Dimes: website | myspace

Having gone to the 8th Annual Lebowski Fest in its mecca of Louisville, I was stoked that creators Will and Scott would be stopping in Philadelphia on the Speed of Sound tour — a cross country tour bringing all the things Lebowski to major cities including New York, Denver, Boston, Austin and many more. The two-day party started Friday at the Electric Factory with a performance by the semi-raucous Black Diamond Heavies and a very of the fest’s namesake film. Typically a standing room only venue, the Electric Factory had set up row after row of plastic chairs so as to make the Achievers (fans of The Big Lebowski) more comfortable for the 117 minute duration of the film.

White Russians flowed freely and many Achievers showed up in grungy robes, sunglasses and boxer shorts as an homage to the Dude, bobbed red wigs and green robes as the eccentric Maude Lebowski, and cargo shorts and vests with yellow aviators taking on the quasi-explosive persona of Walter Sobchak. The Factory was fairly empty when I arrived about a half late, in time to see Will and Scott wrapping up an opening chat decked out in their Pin Head costumes. Black Diamond Heavies followed with a short set consisting of some dynamic originals and two covers straight out of Lebowski, Kenny Rogers‘ “Just Dropped In” and closer “Man In Me” by Bob Dylan, both of which received wild applause from the crowd.

Black Diamond Heavies – “Just Dropped In” (Kenny Rogers)

Black Diamond Heavies – “Man In Me” (Bob Dylan)

Tonight marks the last stop of the Speed of Sound Tour East Coast dates down in our nation’s Capitol, Washington DC. Tonight you can catch Black Diamond Heavies, the Pin Heads and a viewing of The Big Lebowski at the 9:30 Club. $20 admission, 7pm doors. Tomorrow night, the bowling party will take place at Strike Bethesda for those 18 years and older. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 day of. Don’t miss out, buy your tickets now!

The final stop of the Speed of Sound Tour is Austin where on October 9th and 10th.

Lebowski Fest: website | tickets

Friday Night // Concert and Movie Viewing

The Achievers (fans of The Big Lebowski) trickled into the 8^th Annual Lebowski Fest’s movie night on a humid Friday night in Louisville. Many were dressed in simple Achiever shirts while other, more fervent fans were dressed as characters (or even concepts) from the film. White Russian, beer and food stands lined the outside of the lawn as festival goers set up chairs to enjoy the evenings events including performances by local acts Whistle Peak and Black Diamond Heavies, the comedy of Rob Riggle, an appearance by Philip Moon (who plays Woo the Carpet Pisser in the movie) and, finally, a large outdoor showing of the reason for the festival, The Big Lebowski. The long and narrow lawn gave off the feeling of a company picnic or rather than a festival, but it was the perfect for groups of friends and Lebowski fans due to its more intimate nature.

The crowd mingled and drank as they waited for Whistle Peak to take the stage at 8:30. The five piece included keys, a harmonica and a ukulele in additional to the usual guitar, bass and drums. Keeping true to their Louisville roots, a subtle twang was noticeable in their rock sound that also featured poppy overtones. On the whole, I found Whistle Peak’s sound mellow, inoffensive and fairly easy to ignore – perfect background music for catching with old and making new Achiever friends.

The festival’s creators, Scott Shuffitt and Will Russell, walked around dressed as bowling pins, posing for pictures with other Achievers before introducing Black Diamond Heavies. Black Diamond Heavies, whose drummer Van Campbell hails from Louisville, have a dirty garage rock sound that still manages great melodies in all its grungy greatness. Singer James Leg’s got distinct smoky and gritty vocals similar to Tom Waits’, no doubt due to years of a nicotine habit (he lit up on stage). I’d heard of the duo before, but never realized how awesome they are until they tore up the stage at Lebowski Fest. Several audience members jumped up to dance around to the fast-paced, lively sounds. They really got the crowd amped for their beloved Big Lebowksi when they ended their set with covers of Kenny Rogers’ “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” and “Man In Me” by Bob Dylan.

Following Black Diamond Heavies, and crashing hard, was comedian and Louisville native Rob Riggle. He made jokes about the TARP and the Detroit auto industry bail out, mens bathrooms at sports stadiums, sell out jokes about a watered down horse piss beer and he trashed Spencer Pratt, recounting fantasies of wanting to murder the realitard celeb. Rob Riggle is not funny. At all. Neither I nor none of the people around me laughed at all. This was the only lowlight of the evening.

Before The Big Lebowski viewing, Philip Moon came out on stage to “piss” on a carpet (he turned his back to the crowd and opened a can of soda, letting the contents spill from near his crotchal region) like his character, Woo, in the film. The crowd got a huge kick out of this and cheered loudly. He then told an anecdote about his scene, in which Jeff Bridges (Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski) asked whether or not the toilet he was about to get his head dunked in had been washed. Directors the Cohen Brothers, totally deadpan, informed Bridges that the crew had all shit in it. This also drew roars from the crowd, but only received about half the applause that a “satellite link” (it was totally pre-recorded) message from Jeff Bridges himself received. Then it was time for The Big Lebowski. Achievers quoted the film, hooting and hollering at key scenes, reveling in all they’ve come to love about the Cohen Brothers’ cult hit.

My only grievance with the Fest is that I wish they’d had compostable cups and plates, or at the very least recycling. Other than that, I had a blast and couldn’t wait for the next day’s documentary, lawn party and bowling party.

Check back for coverage of the Saturday afternoon Garden Party and Saturday night Bowling Party

Speed of Sound Tour Dates (A Lebowski Fest near you!:
Denver - Sept. 8th & 9th
Minneapolis - Sept. 11th & 12th
Chicago - Sept. 13th – 15th
Toronto - Sept. 17th & 18th
Boston - Sept. 19th & 20th
New York City – Sept. 22nd – 24th
Philadelphia - Sept. 25th & 26th
Washington DC – Sept. 28th & 29th
Austin – Oct. 9th & 10th

Lebowski Fest: website | tickets

read all about ROTHBURY Day 1, ROTHBURY Day 2, and ROTHBURY Day 3!

Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band with Tony Rice // Ranch Arena
Having grown fairly accustomed to bongos, fireworks, and loud hippies until 5AM, then the early risers from 6AM on, I managed to sleep in on Sunday, making it to the festival grounds in time to catch the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band with Tony Rice. Most notable in the jaunty and wildly entertaining set were the literary references, namely those referencing Poe. I was impressed that such upbeat music could associate itself with the dark writing of Edgar Allan Poe.

Toots and the Maytals // The Odeum
I didn’t stick around Ranch Arena for Peter Rowan long – I didn’t want to miss any of Toots and the Maytals at the Odeum. My boyfriend introduced me to the Toots, which surprised me because his taste is dominated by electronica. I had to make sure I saw Toots and the Maytals, not only to rub it in to boyfriend that I caught them, but because I was genuinely interested in seeing their live show after hearing their lively recordings.
I did arrive to the stage after they’d started, and I walked up to hear the band covering John Denver’s “Country Roads”, putting the Toots lively reggae rock touch on it, and making it just as much fun as the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes version.

Sam Roberts Band // Sherwood Court
Canadians Sam Roberts Band stormed the Sherwood Court stage with a very rock and roll sound that held the audience rapt. Their motherland following is wildly loyal and enthusiastic as displayed by many shirtless dudes running around draped in the Canadian flag, or other accessories adorned by the red maple leaf. It’s no wonder, with how energetic and tight that Sam Roberts Band is, that their fans would follow them to the States for ROTHBURY.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals // Sherwood Court
A friend of mine went to college with Grace and clued me into how amazing this woman is years before I’d ever heard of her. I was beyond stoked to catch the sizzling blonde at ROTHBURY and was impressed by her masterful, jazzy piano work and sultry vocal work. Her sexy stage presence is enough to seduce you just halfway into the first tune.

The Hold Steady // Ranch Arena
I’ve never caught on to the Hold Steady craze. I don’t dislike the band, I just haven’t gotten swept up in the Hold Steady mania. I’m pretty sure many other ROTHBURY attendees are in my same shoes: they performed to a modest crowd on the Ranch Arena stage, though I would have pegged them for a Sherwood Court band, since that stage seemed to feature the less jammy, more rock or experimental outfits. Either way, I stuck around for the entire set and was impressed with their performance. I was pleasantly surprised to find accordion, harmonica and keyboard played Franz Nicolay killing it after I’d caught his solo show last Fall and had to leave halfway through the set because I found it to be that unbearable. The Hold Steady’s set was a mix of songs from both of the band’s records and I had a lot of fun taking in what the Hold Steady was dishing out.

Matisyahu // Sherwood Court
I missed out on Matisyahu’s performance as I stuck around for all of the Hold Steady and moved right on to Willie Nelson. By chance, I did get to see Matis as he hung out with his son and entourage in the media area, his son playing some kiddie instruments that were in a basket next to the Ice Cream Man’s truck. It was just adorable!

Willie Nelson & Family // The Odeum
Willie Nelson is a legend. He was soft-spoken, though jaunty in his music, playing classics like “On The Road Again”, “Hey Good Lookin’” and “Georgia On My Mind” to an adoring audience. Performing for more than 50 years, at a healthy 76, Willie Nelson isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Matisyahu, over on the Sherwood Court stage, was so loud it almost overpowered Nelson’s unusually quiet set, but this had no effect on Nelson’s solid performance.

Ani DiFranco // Sherwood Court
I once told a friend that I’d never listened to Ani DiFranco and she, without a moment’s hesitation, told me, “That’s because you’re not a lesbian.” I was taken aback by the answer, but took it and laughed, unsure of what to make of it. Needless to say, I was intrigued to see what the lovely Ms. DiFranco was actually like and was afforded the opportunity to do so while at ROTHBURY. I was delighted to find her sweet, folky sound wonderful and confused as to my friend’s aforementioned answer as to why I wouldn’t have ever listened to Ani before. So maybe I just don’t get it, but I’m solidly pro-Ani.

Bob Dylan and His Band // The Odeum
When I’d seen Bob Dylan at last summer’s Virgin Mobile Festival, I was disappointed with the performance. Dylan is a legend, and with that comes wild expectations, which just weren’t met last summer. Thankfully, Dylan’s ROTHBURY performance this summer was a knockout. I hadn’t been expecting too much, considering last year’s let down, but there was no way I was going to miss another chance to see this living legend.
The passion exhibited in his performance was amazing to see, especially at the ripe old age of 68 and 50 odd years of performing. It was clear in his voice that he still means every word of “Spirit on the Water” off 2006′s Modern Times as he sang, “You’re always on my mind…I can’t sleeeeeeep.” His scratchy vocals were precise and emotion filled. Amongst the expected classic Dylan songs played was a slow and jazzy version of “Blowin’ In The Wind”, a very impressive rendition thanks to the arrangement of His Band.

Dylan didn’t allow any photography for his set, but check out a bootleg video of “Tangled Up In Blue” here. You can also check out some shots of Dylan by a guy who had a great telephoto lens and was really close to the front here and watch “Thunder on the Mountain” below.

“Thunder on the Mountain”

On the whole ROTHBURY was an amazing time. Here’s to ROTHBURY 2010.

ROTHBURY: website | interview with

Photos: Jon Gitchoff