Railbird plays TONIGHT at Brooklyn’s Public Assembly with Zula. Wanna go on us—free? Let us know in the comments and we’ll choose a winner at 5PM tonight – 7/20!
“I grew up in a family of seven in a house my dad built on 8 acres of wetlands at the foothills of the Adirondack mountains. We could never find the scissors and our socks rarely matched. But we had one room off the kitchen dedicated to just music.
My dad would keep his banjo and guitar in there and we had an upright piano. He built shelves floor-to-ceiling to hold his record collection. I would run my fingers against all the spines and pick one out randomly.
The first record I remember putting on the turntable was The Star Spangled Washboard Band (a comedic, psychedelic bluegrass band that formed in 1971 in Troy, N.Y.) I lowered the needle, heard the crackle and anticipated with open ears. I was probably around 8 years old. It was a live record and I don’t remember the title. I just remember being transported.
Thinking back, it feels like it was my first live concert as well. I have a clear image of what I imagined was happening on stage. At one point I saw a bunch of goofy guys wearing over-sized bow ties and suspenders tripping all over each other. At another, they were huddled into position around one microphone doo-wop style. I have no idea if that actually happened. Like a monochrome snapshot, I pictured the small night club and what my parents would have looked like in the audience, in the 70s, with faded outfits and big hair-dos.
Railbird – No One
The Star Spangled Washboard Band connected all their songs with jokes in between. “If a light sleeper sleeps with the light on, what does a hard sleeper sleep with?” It went over my head, but I remember sitting alone on top of a desk, Indian-style, laughing out loud with the audience on the recording.
We had Songs No. 2 and 3 of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music on vinyl. The record cover had some mystery handwriting on it and a stamp “SENIOR H.S. Library, Farmingdale, N.Y.” I still don’t know where it came from. I don’t think anyone knew. Farmingdale was over 200 miles away. Something about its enigmatic appearance makes it stick out in my mind. The mystery was never solved and I like it that way. I don’t remember the first time I heard the songs on those records, they seemed to always be there. When I hear “Poor Boy Blues” by Ramblin’ Thomas I smell bacon frying in the morning and I see the bright yellow walls in the kitchen. I hear the screen door slamming. Ironically, the lyrics “Poor boy, poor boy, poor boy, long way from home” brings me back to that house, my first home.
The first record I ever bought, I believe, was by Ray Charles. It must have been Best of The Atlantic Years because I remember listening to “It Should of Been Me” and “I’ve Got a Woman.” I was 11 or 12, and by that time, I had my mind made up that I was going to be a musician. I also discovered the song “Boom Boom” by John Lee Hooker around that time. My little sister and I wore that record down. We’d put it on and start inventing new dance moves and making the record skip. This was in the late 90’s.
My apartment now is too small for any normal person to have as many records as I do. Still it’s hard for me to avoid record shops. Right now I’m listening to Captain Beefheart’s “Bills Corpse” off Trout Mask Replica. The music is making it hard to concentrate and I feel like cutting my hair off or something. But I probably wouldn’t be able to find the scissors. Soon I’ll put the vinyl back in it’s sleeve. At least my records are organized in all their proper sleeves.
Priorities are still straight, records before scissors.” —S.K.P.
