I keep posting Pokey songs, and I keep finding older obscure acoustic tunes... But

[The Polack MSgt]

But maybe I am doing him a disservice.

He isn't actually a time traveling messenger from 1929. He has a varied, eclectic body of work.

He is a man of his age and his city - St Louis - with all the baggage and beauty that it entails.

This is from his latest record and I think it is a masterpiece of songwriting

[cemaphonic]

1. Have you seen his TED talk?

He talks a bunch about how despite being so rooted in older music, he tries to use it to make contemporary music rather than the preservation/documentary route.

And yeah, "Riot in the Streets" is a good song.

[The Polack MSgt]

2. I believe it was called Evolution through Preservation

- Or something close.

I did watch and I was impressed.

I go through phases with music and lately I've been obsessing over Pokey and Fantastic Negrito.

Oddly I find them to be rather simpatico despite sounding nothing alike

F.N. weaves old gospel and Leadbelly/Blind Lemon era blues refrains into a funk/rock/soul gumbo so perhaps it's the feeling of bringing the old voices into the present that makes them seem similar to me.

Nothing against classic rock and 80s hits, but I don't find those MA posts that interesting - Unless there is a song posted that has special meaning for me.

No offense, but I already know these songs/artists. So, I try to be... not obscure exactly and definitely DO NOT wanna come across as a Hipster early adopter type, but I like to highlight the overlooked

[cemaphonic]

3. I was impressed too.

Seems like a very intelligent and thoughtful guy. Haven't heard of Fantastic Negrito before, but from your description, he sounds like he'd be right up my alley.

And yeah, I grew up watching MTV and raiding my parents' 60's-70's album collection - I love that stuff. But it's annoying that just about every music thread here is the same stuff that has been already been wrung dry through decades of classic rock radio, movie soundtracks., and so on. There was a thread a couple weeks ago that had something like Trump Music Thread in the title. It had probably 50 posts, with about 2 songs that were actually about Trump, and written in the 21st century.

We're in a weird era of music, where cheap recording technology and the global reach of the internet has led to a wide proliferation of styles and genres, with all kinds of interesting stuff for every taste, while on the other hand, commercial forces have led to a pretty narrow band of what actually gets mainstream attention. So I try to champion stuff I like that is overlooked too, but it does feel like tilting at windmills sometimes.

[The Polack MSgt]

4. Last days of Oakland is probably the best jump off point

His new record drops in June, he has a single out from it that seems solid.

But his is what drew me in.

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[The Polack MSgt]

5. or maybe this one

[The Polack MSgt]

6. Can't stop. Won't stop