Langhorne Slim: At Home on the Road
Langhorne Slim and The Law
Tractor Tavern, Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 9:30 p.m.
The Crocodile, Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 8 p.m.
By Sarah Volpone
Langhorne Slim feels more at home on the road. “I’m never in one place for too long, which is kind of how I like it.”
A few months ago I wrote about why you should see Slim and his band, The Law, live. Since then Slim and his band have been on the move. In January, they made some stops in the States with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals; in February and March they toured a few countries in Europe with The Lumineers; and Saturday in Seattle they are kicking off a tour in the States with Lucero.
When I caught up with Slim via phone, he was in St. Louis and getting ready to get back on the road to go to Bozeman for a show. He’s been on the road for a year and a half, and asked about his schedule, and staying connected to his home state of Pennsylvania, his take was “this may sound clichéd, but I’ve always felt more connected and at home within myself on the road. So it’s more than family ties that keep me connected to that spot, more than the dirt.” When the touring slows down, Slim is “ready to have a place of my own to put my piano and records and a bed.” This time Nashville is where he’s going to put his “feet on the ground,” after living in Portland for a time.
One of band’s most recent performances was an amazing turn on Conan, playing two songs, “The Way We Move” and “Found My Heart”, both from the 2012 release The Way We Move. On “Found My Heart” Conan played with them. Slim said that a friend of the band, artist Natalie Irish, was a guest on Conan and gave him some of the band’s CDs. When Slim and his band were booked on the Conan show, he found out that Conan connected with his music and personally asked that they perform on the show. The band was thrilled when they found out Conan wanted to perform with them. Both songs are worth checking out.
With such a busy schedule, Slim still finds time to write while on the road. He describes his writing process as “fragmented” but knows when he has time off from touring during the summer that he’ll be able to put the pieces together and make new songs. In the meantime, Slim just released Summertime, a five song EP, which can be downloaded for free from NoiseTrade. It includes three songs from The Way We Move, an acoustic version of the song “The Way We Move,” and the previously unreleased song “Summertime.” When The Way We Move was made, 25 to 30 songs were recorded but only 14 were put on the album, “Summertime,” is one of the songs from that recording session. When asked if more songs would be released from that session, Slim said, “there are still a bunch of tunes that we’ll release in some form, whether an EP or digital download, we’ll figure something out.” This anxious fan hopes something is released sooner rather than later.
Asked about his growing audience, and the opportunity to play iconic venues like London’s Brixton Academy on his recent tour, Slim says he’s proud that his audience doesn’t just fall into one age category. He thinks “it’s a cool thing if you’re connecting not with just one age group or style. I don’t see music like that, I love all kinds of stuff, hopefully that’s what we’ll live up to.” He’s happy that men, women, and families come to his shows. His favorite kind of music and what he aspires to create is “raw, genuine, hopefully timeless music.”
This weekend is your chance to see Slim and the Law in a smaller venue. I doubt if next time he’s in town that will be the case. The Tractor show on Saturday, April 6, 2013 is sold out, but at the time of this writing, tickets are still available for the show at The Crocodile on Sunday, April 7, 2013. Both nights Langhorne Slim and the Law play with Memphis-based band Lucero.