Thursday, August 9, 8 p.m.
Codfish Hollow Barn, 5013 288th Avenue, Maquoketa IA
Performing blues, folk, country, and Americana music that, according to NPR, “evokes the old-timey spirit of a thousand crackling 78 RPM records” whose “energy makes them feel new and alive,” Midwestern singer/songwriter Pokey LaFarge plays an August 9 Moeller Nights concert at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn, the artist's most recent album Manic Revelations described by Paste magazine as “all sass and swagger, with plenty of juke-jump energy to spare.”
A Bloomington, Illinois native currently based in St. Louis, LaFarge developed an early interest in American literature and history, as well as roots music of the 20th Century. By his teens, he was combining his passions into his own music, accompanying himself on guitar, mandolin, and banjo. After graduating from high school, LaFarge adopted an itinerant lifestyle – as well as the nickname Pokey – and traveled around the United States, often performing on street corners. LaFarge also crossed paths with a handful of like-minded musicians and he was soon touring with his own combo The South City Three, featuring Adam Hoskins on guitar, Joey Glynn on standup bass, and Ryan Koenig on harmonica, washboard, and percussion.
In 2006, LaFarge released his self-produced debut album Marmalade, and after several additional independent releases, Jack White invited LaFarge's trio to accompany him on the song “I Guess I Should Go to Sleep” from White's 2012 album Blunderbuss. LaFarge and his band also opened several dates on White's subsequent tour, and in 2013, White signed LaFarge to his own Third Man Records label, which released his eponymous debut album. The respected roots-music label Rounder Records, meanwhile, released LaFarge's 2015 Something in the Water as well as Manic Revelations, an album that found its artist drawing inspiration from 1960s soul music. The album also inspired PopMatters.com to call Magic Revelations “what happens when the muse hits and the creative juices start flowing as if by magic.”
Pokey LaFarge's 8 p.m. concert on August 9 opens with sets by Chicago Farmer and The Cerny Brothers, admission is $20-25, and more information and tickets are available by visiting MoellerNights.com and CodfishHollowBarnstormers.com.
