“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture” --Frank Zappa (also attributed to Elvis Costello, Laurie Anderson and various other people)
For several years, had you ended up at The Buskers’ home page for some inexplicable reason, you would have read, underneath a now-dated photo of the band, “the simplicity and directness of folk music, the inventiveness of jazz, and the tail-wagging energy of a roots rock house party.” OK. But “tail-wagging?” Now it reads, along with a fresh new pic: “’folk impurists’ with a smart, distinct voice and a kitchen sink repertoire of influences from jug band and jazz to roots rock.” And we added a little press: “See this band if you get a chance. I’d even call them luminescent. As well as versatile, passionate, and funny.” [John Berbrich, fourthcoastentertainment magazine].
An earth-shaking improvement? No. Does it capture our essence? You tell me; but we have to keep trying, because every venue that hires your band is going to pull copy off of your website or press kit for the promo blurb. Whatever you put out, you’d better like it, because you’re going to see little chunks of it--or sometimes the whole enchilada gorged up, your press release (which is bound to repeat a lot of what’s on your website) disguised as an actual newspaper article--reprinted over and over again. Chances are even if you dug what you wrote when you wrote it a year ago you can’t stand to look at it now. But, hey, we're songwriters; we know how to choose our words with precision.
So we updated our copy for the umpteenth time in time for this Summer’s bookings. I had just fired an email version off to the GottaGetGon “pickin’ and singin’” festival in Saratoga Springs, NY, which hired us this year. Then I started thinking…”folk impurists?”…I don’t know… this is a pretty traditional folk crowd… maybe they’ll be turned off by our impure sounding descriptor. But no; our contact LOVES it! Thank you! For some bands no soul-searching may be needed to describe themselves; e.g. “a stoner bluegrass band exclusively devoted to the music of Velvet Underground.” Got it. But if you can’t stand to read clichés like “eclectic” one more time, you are driven to desperate creativity: “kitchen sink repertoire.”
“Luminescent?” All right, I’ll confess before I sign off: Yes, reviewer John Berbrich really wrote that in his kind review. But I planted it there. We talked after the show – I think it was Potsdam, NY where he saw us play— and I jokingly suggested various helpful adjectives he could use in his review, including that one (nicely academic and pretentious, I thought). And damn if he didn’t use it—a joke between us. Hell, we have our luminescent moments.
