Twenty-six-year-old Pokey Lafarge learned to play his parlor guitar, guitjo (a guitar-tuned six-string banjo) and kazoo nine years ago. Since then, Pokey Lafarge & the South City Three — Lafarge on vocals, guitar, guitjo, harmonica, and kazoo, Adam "Boss Hoss" Hoskins on guitar and vocals, Joey Glynn on upright bass and vocals, and Ryan "Churchmouse" Koenig on washboard, harmonica and vocals — have been creating folksy, boxcar-riding bluegrass that Robert Johnson would have gladly claimed as his own.
Pokey’s lyrics are more than words strung together that form sentences. “Writing is the same as thinking, for me,” Pokey said. In fact, much of Pokey’s truly American music incorporates regional history. “My songs are mostly about me; I guess you could say I’m self-involved.”
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2009.