In recent years, store we have seen a sort of revival of folk, tadalafil bluegrass, and Americana-style roots music. No, I don’t mean mainstream country crap that you hear if you go to Country Fest. I mean stuff that Bob Dylan was playing before he pissed off every folk artist he ever worked with. I mean Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly. America in general has a long history of producing down to earth folk music, the kind of music you should listen to when reading Kerouac or Steinbeck novels. And it appears to be back. I won’t go into a long litany of artists who have heard the call of the acoustic and taken heed, but it’s not hard to picture who I’m talking about: Mumford & Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show, the Silent Comedy, the Avett Brothers, Father John Misty, even (oh God, kill me now), the Lumineers. But therein lies the problem.
Some folk artists seem to have lost their way, steering themselves from the path of the down-home, gritty, honest storytelling that was the heart of classic folk, and instead going down the uber-sincere, almost emo, radio-friendly pop-folk chart toppers that avoid the natural, road-worn grit of what folk music is meant to be.
There are, however, a few groups active today that maintain that classic spirit of folk, like Boston’s own Ballroom Thieves. With their first EP, 2012’s The Devil and the Deep, the Thieves put their own stamp on folk with intense, down to earth performance and three part harmonies without compromising their own folk vision and rootsy spirit. They have since released the first single from their upcoming new EP, “Down By The River,” and it brings that same revival-tent energy and O’ Brother vibe. We sat down with the Thieves recently ahead of their shows at the Sinclair to talk influences, Dylan, new blood, and their charity of choice, Best Buddies
Adam Parshall: What drew you to folk music in the first place?
Martin Earley:
Long answer: I’m a big fan of the lyrical freedom folk music affords its songwriters, insofar that it covers a broad spectrum of writing styles. We can play a hard-hitting song in which the lyrics follow a distinct storyline, but we’re also able follow that up with a much more abstract or introspective tune. Our instrumentation also naturally lends itself to folk music, even though our individual musical influences span across several different genres.
Short answer: Bob Dylan.
AP: You have a new cellist, Calin. How has it been having a new member in the group after two years?
M: We couldn’t be happier. We’re definitely still in a transitional phase, but we’re all really excited about how Callie will help shape the direction the band will take over the next few months and beyond. She’s been working really hard on learning all of her cello and vocal parts, writing some original parts for newer tunes, and contributing to the arrangement and composition of our songs. She’s done all this with a positive attitude, even though she’s also had to put up with the shenanigans of the other two-thirds of the band. She’s made it through all of our initiation rituals alive, so morale is very high in the Thieves camp!
AP: In terms of folk/rootsy Americana music, it seems like the genre is experiencing a revival, especially in the last few years. However, a lot of what’s been released by bigger names recently seems to be pretty derivative, and even at times, unoriginal. How do you three try to keep your sound new and fresh while still maintaining that old-school spirit of folk?
M: I can’t say that we’re not influenced by the bigger names in this genre to a certain extent, and I’d be remiss not to extend my gratitude and respect to the bands that brought this current wave of folk into the global mainstream. But you’re not wrong: much of what is being released by the more universally popular acts these days has been recycled without risking a change in its genetic makeup. I’d like to think that our individual musical backgrounds and the influences that inevitably stem from them help us to bend the boundaries of the genre. Depending on which song of ours you happen to listen to, you can discover shades of rock, pop, hip-hop, and more, and that stylistic oscillation keeps our music interesting and fresh to a wide variety of audiences. At least that’s the general plan.
AP: One of the singles from the new EP, Down by the River, has that huge, room-filling, stomping sound to it that kind of reminds me of the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack. Was there anything you were listening to that influenced the making of this EP that was different from the first?
First of all, thank you for that favorable comparison. If our music has the same vibe as any Clooney film, we’ve got to be doing something right. Except for Spy Kids. Not sure what Georgie was thinking there. When we’re on the road we listen almost exclusively to the bands we’ve played with, and I think some people would be surprised at the amount of creative energy those bands generate for our own songwriting. Our good friends (from local Boston bands) Darlingside and Tall Heights have been especially instrumental in fueling our creativity and motivating us to write new, different material. It’s a variety of healthy competition in which each band helps out the others, much like Everett, Pete, and Delmar in “O Brother.” Not sure who gets to be Clooney, though.
AP: You donated $1 from ticket purchases for your Sinclair show to Best Buddies Massachusetts; have you been involved with Best Buddies before? What prompted these donations now, specifically?
M: We’ve been contributing to Best Buddies for a while now, and we’re really excited about partnering with them in the future as well. During our PledgeMusic campaign (which helped fund the EP) we were able to donate some money to Best Buddies, and we’ve also done some volunteer work for them in the past. We all think that this is an organization that is doing all the right things for the kids whom it is helping, and we’ve always wanted to allow our music to contribute to an undertaking like that. As soon as we were in a position to help out we started doing so, and we’re looking forward to continuing that trend in the future.
AP: What do you think the future holds for folk/more down to earth roots music in general? You manage to keep your sound really gritty and raw, while still just having three instruments on stage.
M: It’s tough to tell where this genre is going, especially since so many other genres are currently feeding off of the mainstream appeal that it has recently garnered. When Aviici starts filling stadiums with folky EDM tunes and you start to hear a banjo on half of the top 50 pop charts, it becomes difficult to see a clear path of the genre in general. Don’t get me wrong: in no way do I think these things are detrimental to the art we’re trying to create; I just think that the multitude of different shapes this music is taking on allows us to pretty much do whatever we want with it. That’s what everyone else is doing, anyway.
AP: What can we expect from the new EP, now that you’ve released Down By the River?
M: We’re really excited to finally share this project with anyone who lends an ear, so I don’t want to give too much away, but I can tell you that the energy with which Down By the River starts off the EP doesn’t get lost throughout the rest of the tracks. We’re proud of the record, and we can’t wait for you all to take a listen!
Ballroom Thieves are playing the Sinclair in Cambridge on Friday, October 4th and Saturday, October 5th. $1 from each ticket sold for their show on the 4th will go to Best Buddies Massachusetts.