LaFarge, who’s based in St. Louis and performs with his band, the South City Three, at Club Passim on Wednesday, cut a striking presence that day. But it didn’t quite make sense until I saw him onstage. He was ferocious, a concentrate of some of his musical heroes, from Bill Monroe’s keen musicianship to Woody Guthrie’s way with storytelling.
One look at LaFarge, who’s 28, and you get a warped impression. He was born Andrew, but nobody calls him that anymore. Pokey suits him, but let’s be clear: LaFarge is not a man out of time.
“I don’t think I was born at the wrong time,’’ he says. “I’m really just playing American music. It’s not old. It’s always been around and always will be around.’’
If anything, LaFarge is a sincere torchbearer of a century of American music he loved and studied as a kid growing up in Illinois. He left home at 17 to hit the road and learn it firsthand. From Dixieland jazz and ragtime to rural blues and Western swing, LaFarge has made it his mission to breathe new life into those old-time genres.
“When I first heard that music, I was just a writer,’’ LaFarge says. “I wasn’t a player until I heard Bill Monroe, and that stuff really made me want to play and sing. I started writing songs after that. It’s always been about finding my own style.’’
He says he had a typical Midwestern upbringing - “playing sports, working in cornfields, and blowing stuff up’’ - but he also had historically minded grandparents who exposed him to old music. He was ready.
“I was looking for something different,’’ he says. “I always wanted to be different and nobody my age was listening to that stuff. To me, it was my own little haven.’’
Even as a youngster, LaFarge saw no reason why certain types of music belonged in the past, let alone did he think there should be restrictions on who could play it.
