Self-proclaimed "holler folk" group The Ghost of Paul Revere ventures down from its Portland, Maine, roots for a show at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville on Wednesday -- just days before the release of its new album "Monarch," out Oct. 27 on Kobalt Music Recordings. Lead singer/guitarist Griffin Sherry answered a few questions for What's Up! about the new music and the group's unique label.
Q. Tell me about how the creative process for this album differed from your previous projects?
A. The biggest difference is that we, for the first time, kind of arranged and recorded the songs on a song-to-song basis. Traditionally, we [would] go into the studio and record live until we had a take we really enjoyed. This time, we really got a chance to sit back and orchestrate each song and figure out what each song needed. So a lot of interesting things on the record kind of grew out of that constant working process organically.
Q. You've mentioned that change and transformation are big themes on the album. How have you changed as an artist and as a performer during your time with the band and do you feel that's reflected in this group of songs?
A. I think [the album] shows a different level of self-confidence in the music that we're making. We're all getting to be more comfortable with what we can do vocally, instrumentally, and how we push ourselves to try new things. Six years ago when we started this, I don't think we thought we would do much more than play in the local bars. And now we are a part of the music community, and we can be a force for good in that community.
Q. Talking about your style, I know you've mentioned you're hesitant to assign a specific genre label to your music, but you refer to it as "holler folk." What is "holler folk" to you?
A. The band itself at the very beginning had this sort of notion that we could be more communal music -- like shows where you're in really close proximity to the band and you can sing along with them and be part of the show. That idea of a room of people making music together was really interesting to us. So holler folk comes from that [idea] of group music, and then also we probably are closest to Americana/folk music, but it's definitely a little bit different, much louder. So it was also kind of a joke play on that word that we're a really amped-up electric live show, essentially playing semi-traditional folk music.
-- Jocelyn Murphy
jmurphy@nwadg.com
NAN What's Up on 10/20/2017