It may the hokey-pokey, but Pokey Lafarge is what it’s all about.
The St. Louis-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist draws from a deep well of American musical traditions to create distinctively personal music that’s timeless rather than retro, transcending the confines of genre in a manner that reflects the artist’s openhearted attitude. He’s also earned a reputation as a tireless, uniquely charismatic live performer, winning a loyal international fan base that regularly packs his rousing, celebratory live shows.
Incorporating elements of early jazz, ragtime, country blues, Western swing, and beyond, LaFarge has created a vibrant, deeply expressive body of work that embodies an expansive musical vision and vivid storytelling sensibility that are wholly his own, totally encapsulated by his latest full-length Something in the Water. Something in the Water finds Pokey expanding and deepening his musical reach on such new originals as the wry, rollicking title track, the swaggering ragtime workout “Wanna Be Your Man,” the infectiously jazzy “Underground,” the evocative crooner “Cairo, Illinois,” the exotic ballad “Barcelona” and the swinging album-closer “Knocking the Dust off the Rust Belt Tonight,” whose witty lyrics underline the album’s proudly Midwestern sensibility.
You can stream Pokey Lafarge right here at KUTX!
– Jack Anderson