Who are The Sparkleberries? Well, they hail from that musical hotbed of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, an area that, when combined with neighbouring Raleigh and Durham, became known as ‘the triangle’. Old timey, traditional, ragtime, blues and bluegrass were the region’s predominant exports for years, but in the past few decades the area has given us artists as diverse as James Taylor, Southern Culture On The Skids, Flat Duo Jets, Superchunk, Corrosion Of Conformity, Polvo, Ben Folds Five and others.
The late ’70s / early ‘80s scene saw Vinyl District faves Peter Holsapple & The H-Bombs, Chris Stamey & the dB’s (a band Holsapple would later join), The Connells and Dillon Fence take the energy of the punk scene and infuse melodic rock and roll with a sense of purpose to spearhead the power pop / new wave movement. This would be a good reference point for The Sparkleberries, particularly as Stamey is part of a rotating crew of musicians who play under that banner heading. It’s Stamey’s fluid lead and driving rhythm guitar playing that illuminate ‘Skylight Exchange’, the debut release by this loosely termed band, an outfit led by vocalist / rhythm guitarist Ken Kleinfeld.
The record itself is a delight, and despite the aforementioned reference points, it’s not easily categorisable. Perhaps that should be left to Kleinfeld himself, who describes his own songs as ‘…what might have resulted had Lou Reed read more P.G. Wodehouse and less Delmore Schwarz, and then took charge of the Lovin’ Spoonful’. Now how can you resist that?!
Check out track one from their debut album:
The Sparkleberries – Maple Park by The Sparkleberries
