KFJC 89.7FM
Album Review
Hoke, Russell – “Through The Hardship of Seasons” – [Unheard-of Records]
Thurston Hunger 9/4/2014 12-inch, A Library
It’s hard for me to say how badly I wanted this Russell Hoke to be the
same as the noted Verdi vocalist seen at
http://www.heartofsinging.com/russell-hoke-bio.html
But naw, and pshaw…this is thee same ol’ San Antoney yokel that
KFJC and many an insider FM purveyor of “outsider” music hath
come across. “Limited” edition and maybe a newer vintage than the
earlier things we’ve added. still homespun and heartfelt but I
think comparisons to Daniel Johnston and Palace and so forth are
pushing it. I don’t think he deals with or draws the demons that
Daniel does. Will Oldham can fit words more adroitly and themes
more a-darkly than these sweetened campfire marshmellows. The warmth
is comfy here, and there’s a bottle of something smuggled in to cover
R.L. Burnside’s but it ain’t electric hooch (we’ve got several
takes o’ that in our blues cabinet, and even R.L acoustically
doing “Long Haired Doney” with just him and a harp). The lead off
number is a happy hootenanny with Heidi Buchhorn backing up vox
and some mandolin amblin’ in for a fuller realization. If you’re
lookin’ for someone singing like John-Boy Walton, and (if you
squint your eyes on the cover?) looking like Charlie Sheen,
sit a spell. This kind of earnest music kept Pete Seeger alive
and performing for darn near 100 years, it’s got to be good for you.
-Thurston Hunger
you heard it 18 times on kfjc! most recently:
- 3144 days ago, Sir Cumference played Bewiltered
- 3150 days ago, Thee Opinataur played Nature's Ball
- 3158 days ago, Pete Dixon played Bewiltered
- 3162 days ago, Naysayer played Bewiltered
- 3166 days ago, Sid Badguy played Bewiltered
12345 S. El Monte Road Los Altos Hills, California 94022
Public Inspection File
comments
Hickory Bob says
"marshmallow"
YT,
The Yokel
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Thurston Hunger says
Yer Yokelness,
While I respect both ye and my spell-checker, I went with the 'mellow mispelling as a form of sound telling? Anyroad, thanks for reading and moreso thanks for making music (and pitching for the Cardinals/Pirates in a previous life).
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Hickory Bob says
Hickory Bob had written T.H. to let him know that HIs Nonyokelness knew how to spell "marshmallow" -- without spellcheck!
Misspelling was not the main offense in thy reviewness, Lord Hunger. Cyber-bullying name-calling was. His Nonyokelness does not request that you kneel in submission and repentance, but he does feel that you should apologize for assuming that anyone who lives in Texas and once struck strings on banjos is a yokel. "Yokel" is a derisive word, and it made His Nonyokelness curl into a ball and moan for four hundred and six days. Look what you did to heeyum, you MEAN thing.
I am afraid of baseballs, and I never played in the majors,
Hickory Robert (no relation at all to the guy who played baseball)
P.S. -- We're just kidding. We're both raging hicks. Even our rubber Billybob teeth are decaying!
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