NOISE C R AC K ER FAR M
Chances are Slim you won’t like Langhorne’s folksy tunes.
LANGHORNE SLIM The alt-country troubadour kicks up his boots ANDREW CRISP Slideshow Players also took note. Don’t let Langhorne Slim fool you. He’s a “They saw me play my short set and insham, a phony, a hoax. No modern man vited me to go out on tour with them. They could possibly pick an Antietam-era ballad took me on my first tour in America, my down the neck of a guitar like an Americana first tour in Europe,” said Slim. “They were minstrel. Or pour his soul through his vocal amazing supporters of mine and helped me cords into a ribbon mic, evangelizing like a out a tremendous amount.” revival-era preacher in a tent full of sweaty Slim’s style is often labeled alt-country. Southern Baptists. You just don’t find a Whatever that encompasses, it doesn’t take traditionalist folk artist like this. Langhorne into account the uniqueness of his deep-inSlim is a time traveler. the-diaphragm voice, his Bob Dylan-esque “I picked up the guitar because I knew that I had something that I needed to express guitar work or the rest of his band, The War Eagles (Malachi DeLorenzo, Jeff Ratner and and I didn’t know what it was,” Slim told David Moore). Regardless, Slim shrugs off Boise Weekly. the label. He rejects genre-fication. Born Sean Scolnick, Slim left his small “I think genres are typically set up to Pennsylvania hometown, Langhorne, on his sell something or establish where to keep a way to New York, fresh out of high school. certain band’s music in a record shop,” said Tapping into the artistic culture of the East Village, Slim found a soap box for his oratory. Slim. “I think most people aren’t so black and white ... I wanna be able to explore and “There’s this thing called Sidewalk Cafe go where my heart takes me.” that a lot of great people have come out From those Sidewalk Cafe days, Slim’s of,” said Slim of New York. “The hope that career kept growing. He moved up to gigs at everybody had was that the guy that ran it, Bonnaroo and tours with bands like Cake, this guy Latch, if he liked you, he would give The Violent Femmes and The Avett Brothers. you your own show.” After the indepenHumbly Slim dent release of Slim recounted his own Pickens in 1999 and break. Wednesday, Dec. 15, 7 p.m., $10 advance, $12 door an album with Charles “So I played my Butler, Slim released two songs and he LINEN BUILDING 1402 W. Grove St. an EP, Electric Love was like, ‘Well, what thelinenbuilding.com Letter (2004, Narnack do you guys think?’ Records). People were nice and From “Electric they clapped,” said Love Letter” on that album, which was used Slim. “‘Well Langhorne, we’ll see ya next in the movie Waitress: “It’s like lightning Wednesday.’ That was a big shot.” when she smiles / She tastes just like pumpBut it wasn’t just a polite audience. kin pie / Storm clouds have filled the sky / Latch, the crowd and the other musicians I’ve arrived when she smiles.” he played with noticed something in Slim’s “When it comes easy, it’s like you’re style. The famous Trachtenburg Family
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channeling somebody. Or somebody just dropped it off in your lap or in your brain. A song comes ... and you haven’t had to do any work for it other than sit down,” says Slim. But he acknowledged the rarity of the epiphany. “Sometimes it hits you all at once and feels almost like it’s not your song ... More times than not, for me, it’s not that easy. It definitely takes some work,” said Slim. Slim and the War Eagles were poised to take a pick step up in 2006: They signed to V2 Records, which lasted “16 seconds.” The record label imploded but gifted the unpublished masters back to the band. Slim didn’t relent. After a search, he found Kemando records and recorded Be Set Free. Slim was on The Late Show with David Letterman in March 2008 and by October 2009 “Worries,” off of his self-titled release, was used in a Travelers Insurance commercial. “I think bands are expected to do what I would consider weirder shit now than ever before,” Slim said. “With tweeting and all that kind of stuff: I don’t care what celebrity is drinking a cup of coffee. And to be honest, I don’t know that I like that or am totally comfortable with that.” While Slim may not be the “Web 2.0” guy who’ll tweet every time he goes to the bathroom, he acknowledges that the Internet is engaging fans in some fascinating new ways. “It’s sort of a bizarre state of things,” said the time-traveling Slim. “It’s so great for bands that NPR can put up a cool video of us and then you can check that out, or I can put up [a video] sitting on a back porch playing a song. It’s sort of interesting, widening that medium and seeing how far you are wanting or willing to take it.” WWW. B O I S E WE E KLY. C O M