The Legend of Langhorne Slim

I have been meaning to see Langhorne Slim for some time now, thanks to his reputation as a phenomenal live act, and was thrilled when he was announced as Josh Ritter‘s supporting act for the July 23rd Denver show. This was truly one of the best shows I have been to. The legend of Langhorne Slim did not disappoint.

Langhorne Slim has an unbelievable amount of energy. I got tired just watching him. He was all over the stage and spent a good portion of the show on his knees. The theatrics and Langhorne Slim‘s extraordinary showmanship kept the audience enthralled. A little could be said for the music, as well. The band consists of Malachi DeLorenzo on drums and Jeff Ratner on the upright bass (also known as The War Eagles) with Langhorne Slim on acoustic guitar. The guys were joined on a few songs by Sam Kassirer from Josh Ritter‘s band on keyboards. The sound could be described as something born of folk, blues, and rock and roll, but is somehow so much more. The songs are written in an atypical way, giving them a refreshing unpredictability. They make me want to dance and I can’t stop grinning and tapping my toes.

Before the show, Langhorne Slim and I revisited the infamous alley where I met with Chuck Ragan. Leaning against a dumpster, we had a lovely discussion. The man has a wonderful sense of humor and is absolutely a pleasure to talk to. I can’t wait to see him again.

What is your favorite part of playing a live show?


Favorite part? It’s all my favorite part. On the good nights, it’s my favorite part of playing music all together. It’s an amazing feeling if there’s energy coming back at you from these songs that you sit down and write when you’re alone by yourself and people are dancing around and singing.

Tell me about your band.


What do you want to know?

How would you describe them?


I would describe them as handsome men.

How did you start playing together? Anything that comes to mind.


Malachi [DeLorenzo], my drummer, I’ve known for about five and a half-six years and we met doing the first record that I did. He was producing it and during that process we became a band. Paul Defiglio was our bass player for about five years and he recently left to do some other things. Now we have our new friend, Jeff Ratner, who’s actually from a town over from me in Pennsylvania, but we didn’t know each other until six months ago.

Tell me about your upcoming album.


It comes out September 29th. We recorded it in Portland with Chris Funk from the Decemberists. It is our best one yet. We’re really excited and proud. Now we just have to sit and wait. Good thing, because we’re really busy touring, so the time will go by quick. We’re excited to get it out, anxious to get it out.

What does folk music mean to you?


It’s a place to go in a record store where you know you’re going to find guys and girls that play acoustic guitars. That’s as far as it really goes for me. I don’t call myself any particular genre. Maybe some people do, maybe they identify themselves one way or another. For me, it doesn’t make sense. I love all types of music and I think that I bring different types of music into the music that I write. I know that if I’m listening to the radio and it’s like “this is the folk show” I’m probably going to like at least 50% of what I hear and the same with the section in the records store, but you want to be more than a label.

I don’t like genre labels myself, which is terrible because I’m trying to write about them. I like hearing other people’s perspective on it. I think it’s interesting every time.


When I was first starting and people were first writing about me, I would get frustrated by what people would say. I think the longer that you do it, you take yourself less seriously. But you’re right, for writers and journalists, that’s kind of what you guys do.

We end up calling it something or comparing it to something.


I don’t personally like that, but if I go and see somebody or if somebody plays me an album, in my head at first I think “oh this sort of sounds like this”. I think we all sort of do it, but I don’t particularly like when it’s done to me. But, such is life.

What have you been listening to lately?


Well, we’ve been listening a lot to our own album, as shitty as that sounds, because we’re just in the process of getting it all together. So we’ve been really in that bubble. I’ve listened to lately a lot of Nina Simone, I love Lee Hazelwood. In the last year or so, we have XFM satellite radio in the van. We put on the sixties channel or Howard Stern. A lot of Howard Stern. Lots of different stuff.

What moment in your career are you most proud of?


Standing against this dumpster, in this alley, hanging out with you guys.

It is pretty classy.


It is.

Not every place has an alley with a dumpster.


There’s moments that very fortunately continue to come up. Something like doing Letterman, that kind of blows your mind. People respond a lot to that. There’s little proud moments that keep on going that make you feel really good. So playing out when the show is really good, it is only an hour in a night, but it’s an awesome thing. When this record comes out I will be awfully proud because we worked mighty hard on it.

What is the last day job you had?


I never could keep those things. I worked in college pushing around televisions and setting up DVD players and stuff for classes that were doing that. I even got fired from that. Then I thought I should get good at doing this thing. I don’t know how I’ve been able to do that, because I certainly wasn’t making enough money, through begging, borrowing, and maybe stealing. But really good friends, the support of friends and family helped me believe in what I was doing and helped me work on this even when money wasn’t coming in.

What is something that you would like to be able to do?


Cook really well. That would be cool.

What is your favorite drink?


At the moment, white wine.

Any particular kind or just white wine in general?


I’m not too picky. I don’t anymore, but my girlfriend and I used to live in Napa Valley in California. It is pretty wine heavy in that area.

Do you have any hobbies that are non musical?


I wish I had something really awesome to say about that. To be honest with you, I need something. I think it’s important for all people. You spend a lot of time on the road which is fast paced and then to come back home and try to be grounded, it’s really good to have something else. For me, no. I hang out with my girlfriend, try to cook food, now that she’s in Los Angeles for the summer, we go to the beach.

If you haven’t already, go visit Langhorne Slim on MySpace. Watch for this act coming to a city near you!

We have a special treat for American Indie readers on this one. From Langhorne Slim‘s upcoming album (due out from Kemado Records on September 29th, download the track I Love You But Goodbye.

I Love You But Goodbye

View the entire photo set here.