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* Due to a flu, this
story is bereft of photos. We will add some soon. -- Art
This month in the
Strangefolk drama...
(Begin organ music here)
When we last joined Strangefolk in the spring
of 2000, the band had just been released from a contract
with Mammoth Records. Their fans were left hanging while
their newest CD, A Great Long While,
was wrapped in legal red tape. Weeks later, singer and
co-founding member Reid Genauer quit the band after 10
years. What were guitarist Jon Trafton, bassist Erik
Glockler and drummer Luke Smith to do? WHAT WERE THEY TO
DO ?
(Organ crescendo peaks)
(Happy organ music begins)
They picked up a new singer, Luke Montgomery,
and keyboardist, Scott Shdeed, and began spreading the
new Strangefolk sound. Many of the cities the band hit on
its latest tour are areas that might not know the new
Strangefolk sound from the old one, as they are towns the
band had not previously toured frequently. Saving the
band from my raging flu, I chatted with Jon Trafton and
new pipes man Luke Montgomery by phone before a show at
Atlanta's Smith's Olde Bar.
VOYAGER: When
did you debut this new lineup, and how was that first
show?
TRAFTON: It
felt great. It was November 4th; we did a little show in
Wakefield, Vermont, a little ski town. It was really
well-attended. It was kind of undercover, we didn't want
to advertise it, we just put the word out right before it
happened. The energy in the room was pretty amazing. It
felt good to be making music and it felt like it locked
right in.
VOYAGER: You
have said that you haven't toured the Southeast very
freuently; how are the audiences receiving you on this
tour?
TRAFTON: This is
the second week; we were in Athens last night and that
was a fairly light turnout. We've been to Athens and
atlanta a few times and we've never hit on a good
strategy to break in. Its so hard to break in like it
would be for a southern band coming up north, when people
don't know who you are. Its strange. We just played in
Charleston, South Carolina and it was great, people came
and were dancing and having a great old time. Last night
in Athens we definitely did not even break the hundred
barrier. The people who were there seemed excited to be
there but it didn't seem that the word had really gotten
out.
VOYAGER: How
did you find the new singer, Luke Montgomery?
TRAFTON: I'm not
sure how he heard we were doing auditions. I think it was
word of mouth, but he came to audition and we loved
everything about his performance and the kind of guy he
struck us as on first impression. We had played with him
years before and had some familiarity there.
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