Kurt Vile

"Kurt Vile is a guitarist and singer from Philadelphia . He presently is the lead guitarist in the band The War on Drugs and also has a burgeoning solo career. He was signed on Matador Records in May 2009 as a solo artist. His music has been likened to Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and Tom Petty." - Wikipedia



Damn, is this just another freak-folkie dude on Woodist that everyone is heralding as a modern Woodie Guthrie meets Townes Van Zandt ripping the styles of the great masters of folk and re-packaging it for the kiddies who's parents record collections are all still hidden down in the basement???

I would have to say YES, but fo REALZ this time man. I am diggin' this guy's jamz for sure, but mostly the acoustic solo stuff, rather than the bizarre squashed electric numbers on his formal releases. To me, this guy seems like he knows what's up, with hints of "One Foot In The Grave" by Beck and a similar somber swagger to Townes. He does kinda win me over w/ lyrics like "Hey how arrre ya? You sure got a way of treatin' a maaaan, might I add the perfect suntan, you're ridin' on your yellow Shwinn...I'm blastin classic rock in Spring"....."When you hear that Bob Seger song you know I'll be looooong gone, cuttin' all my classes like a hit of acid.." (Classic Rock In Spring)



It's nostalgia at it's best and it brings to mind some good visuals. I first stumbled across his slow, finger picked tunes on the great Free Music Archive put together by the radio station WFMU in NJ and other fellow curators. If you'd like to hear Kurt Vile's session you can stream / download it HERE. I'd recommend the song I quoted above - it's really stuck w/ me.

Also here's a pretty neat live video of him taken by Ray Concepcioñ who's done lot's of neat videos on vimeo.

The Silent Barn: Kurt Vile // Part One from Ray Concepcioñ on Vimeo.