MODO-LIVE, The Plant, Programme present...

POKEY LAFARGE & HIS BAND

For two decades, Pokey LaFarge has walked his own effortlessly cool road as an exceptionally
iconoclastic troubadour – forthright, genuine, and markedly keen to put it all out there. Rent
Money now sees him pushing forward yet again in what can be safely declared his finest
collection to date, both as an heartfelt expression of personal experience and as no-nonsense
social commentary. With its twanging guitars, plucky rhythms, and undeniably captivating
melodies, the album soars and swings, its joyous refrains belying the inescapable undercurrent of
constant worry and angst that permeates these troubled times. As always, the Illinois native
deftly traverses the genre boundaries, seamlessly integrating the myriad strains of 20 th -century
American music with a freewheeling command of earnest songcraft, inspired performance, and
subversive creativity. Rent Money stands tall as an indisputable high-water mark for Pokey
LaFarge – a defining collection from a one-of-a-kind artist of rare ingenuity and uncommon
candor, now as ever, determinedly crafting a sure-footed brand of deeply human music all his
own.
“People are always going to tell you what they think you should play,” says Pokey LaFarge,
“what you should sing about, how you should sound, how you should look, how you should act.
And I’ve always just been like, nah. Nope. I’ve just completely gone my own way, and hopefully
I’ve been honest and authentic in the process.
“I’m just trying to make music that AI can’t replicate. Things are so homogenized right now.
That’s what I’m really, really, really resistant to, especially when it comes to music. I’m not
going to do it. I’m not going to conform.”