Recollection Collection......musical memories recalled with affection!
A couple of weeks ago I spent a weekend away, with family, in a gorgeous cottage in the Shropshire countryside. Warm, blue skies, local cider and rolling hills, the UK in the summertime you can't beat it. That is of course unless you're in Hounslow West. It was a period cottage probably used as a farmhouse and relatively untouched since it was built in the 1920's therefore the grounds were huge, with a tree house and plenty of nooks and crannies, a Famous Five adventure playground. Inside there were old pictures of the residents, antique furniture throughout, busy carpets and furry wallpaper, at first I wasn't so sure but it's unusual nostalgic charm won me over, it reminded me of visiting my grans houses when I was younger, musty smell included.
Inevitably, warped by years of horror films, I thought "it must be haunted". I fully expected to find a ghostly presence staring back at me from one of the bedroom windows as I explored the grounds or an unwanted figure in the family portrait as we flicked through the pictures on the camera. And what was in that locked cellar? Thankfully I will never know, safe in the knowledge that I didn't open a portal 'to the other side' and inadvertently summon Beelzebub's minions to inconvenience my father in law's birthday. "Bloody hell" I thought, think more Enid Blyton not the Evil Dead.
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Where do I plug in my IPod?
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With the silence and the lack of reception on my mobile, it really felt like I could have been sometime in the 1940's. It was like going back in time, without the need of a Delorean, gazing out the window, I fully expected a Spitfire to flypast the house, then possibly a diplodocus. But apart from a pristine 1982 ET colouring book I was especially impressed by a magnificent piece of furniture that I guess dated back to the late 50's/60's, a radio record player. The record player didn't work, perhaps thankfully, as on the deck was Oklahoma which my wife loves and i'm pretty certain would have given us a horrendous rendition, probably enough to summon aforementioned minions (there was a best of Ken Dodd too, I don't think I'd be writing this now if that got played). But the radio still worked, which was brilliantly nostalgic, I could just imagine the sounds of something just like Pokey LaFarge emanating from the speakers.
Pokey LaFarge - 'Devil Ain't Lazy' (2013)
Despite going for almost a decade, he's only been a recent discovery for me and I'm quite partial to a bit of American Roots/Swing anyway. I suppose I could listen to any number of bands that were around during the era but St Louis' Pokey LaFarge are refreshing and full of Southern Charm with immaculate musicianship.
Both songs are taken from his, fourth and self titled album released earlier this month on Jack White's label,
Third Man Records. As Pokey says himself, "It's not retro music. It's American music that never died."
Have a listen to some of my favourite tracks on my Spotify playlist below or click here to read some more posts.
Comments
I enjoyed the Pokester too. I knew the name, but these are the first tunes I've heard by him. Good stuff.