The definitive word on Frog Holler
At a certain point in the Frog Holler concert (concert seems too robust a word for what this was -- 50 people in the back room of the Ale House listening to an alt-country/Appalachian roots band from Philly, of all places), I turned to my friend and said "The singer must be the guy who writes all the songs. Because otherwise they'd have gotten a new singer by now."
This was met with derision. But it's true.
Since last Thursday I've listened to a lot of Frog Holler. They're a pretty good band with a lousy lead singer. Which, in the end, just makes them an okay band. Great in person -- you could tell a lot of the people at the Ale House had seen them before. Ten times, some of them, maybe. A lot of winking into the crowd and calling of names from the stage (in a nice way). There were a couple of times when they played the first two or three chords of a song and everybody started stamping their feet and hooting. So they definitely have a following. But in the cold reality of just me and my paint listening to music being played through the stereo, in the end they're just okay. No matter how well the painting is going.
The Floating Men, with whom I compared Frog Holler, are what Frog Holler would desperately like to be. But are not.
And about that lead singer stuff, don't be going all Bob Dylan on me. It's a different thing entirely. Here's their myspace page link. You can listen to some of the tunes and get back to me.
Additional obscure note -- I know you are busy so don't read this unless you are really interested, but one of their front men plays the most interesting looking guitar I think I've ever seen. Some guy with a really big head was sitting directly between me and the instrument, so my view, no matter how much I squirmed, was blocked. But it appeared to be a small, hollow-body guitar -- almost mandoline size but with a weird Art Deco kind of a style (for a minute I thought he was playing the Chrysler Building) -- with a steel guitar resonator on the front and a neck that was stolen from a five string banjo. So the bass string only goes two thirds of the way up the neck. Quite amazing. He might even call it a banjo and not a guitar, although he seemed to play it more like a guitar.
This was met with derision. But it's true.
Since last Thursday I've listened to a lot of Frog Holler. They're a pretty good band with a lousy lead singer. Which, in the end, just makes them an okay band. Great in person -- you could tell a lot of the people at the Ale House had seen them before. Ten times, some of them, maybe. A lot of winking into the crowd and calling of names from the stage (in a nice way). There were a couple of times when they played the first two or three chords of a song and everybody started stamping their feet and hooting. So they definitely have a following. But in the cold reality of just me and my paint listening to music being played through the stereo, in the end they're just okay. No matter how well the painting is going.
The Floating Men, with whom I compared Frog Holler, are what Frog Holler would desperately like to be. But are not.
And about that lead singer stuff, don't be going all Bob Dylan on me. It's a different thing entirely. Here's their myspace page link. You can listen to some of the tunes and get back to me.
Additional obscure note -- I know you are busy so don't read this unless you are really interested, but one of their front men plays the most interesting looking guitar I think I've ever seen. Some guy with a really big head was sitting directly between me and the instrument, so my view, no matter how much I squirmed, was blocked. But it appeared to be a small, hollow-body guitar -- almost mandoline size but with a weird Art Deco kind of a style (for a minute I thought he was playing the Chrysler Building) -- with a steel guitar resonator on the front and a neck that was stolen from a five string banjo. So the bass string only goes two thirds of the way up the neck. Quite amazing. He might even call it a banjo and not a guitar, although he seemed to play it more like a guitar.
posted by Geoffrey at 7:53 PM
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