Pokey LaFarge - Rock Bottom Rhapsody Vinyl LP 2020

Track Listing

  1. Rock Bottom Rhapsody
  2. End of My Rope
  3. Fuck Me Up
  4. Blue Bird
  5. Rock Bottom Reprise
  6. Lucky Sometimes
  7. Carry On
  8. Just the Same
  9. Fallen Angel
  10. Storm-a-comin'
  11. Ain't Comin' Home
  12. Lost in the Crowd
  13. Rock Bottom Finale

"The man singing these songs isn't exactly the same man who wrote them," says Pokey LaFarge of Rock Bottom Rhapsody, his eighth and latest studio release. "This album is about the story of who I used to be." In early 2018, LaFarge - searching for the sort of artistic freedom and inspiration he wasn't finding in the Midwest - relocated from his longtime home base of St. Louis, Missouri, to Los Angeles, California. New songs came quickly to LaFarge in his new environment, but new temptations soon found him, as well. Though he declines to get into specifics, LaFarge admits that he experienced a significant "fall from grace" during the last months of 2018. "Things sort of started to unravel in my mind," Shortly before the recording of Rock Bottom Rhapsody began, LaFarge experienced a spiritual awakening - and the faith he re-embraced in his hour of darkness helped to buoy him through the making of the album. Though he was struggling for spiritual equilibrium at the time, LaFarge at least had some rock-solid musical support to lean on. Recorded primarily at Reliable Recorders on Chicago's Northwest side, Rock Bottom Rhapsody was produced by LaFarge's friend and collaborator Chris Seefried (who also cowrote several of the album's tracks), and features the considerable talents of guitarist Joel Paterson, keyboardist Scott Ligon, upright/electric bassist Jimmy Sutton, and drummer Alex Hall. Musically, LaFarge continues to mix and match a wide variety of styles and traditions, while never losing track of his own vision.