By K.D. Norris
No singer/songwriter likes to be labeled, but when people say Langhorne Slim sings from a “folk punk” background they probably better not say it to his face. He tends, as they say, speak his mind and sing his mind.
“Maybe everybody’s scared to be a freak. But when you live as a freak it’s so much more fulfilling,” he said, in supplied material. “I don’t want to tame myself. I want to be wild. If I can continue to refine the wildness but never suffocate or tame it, then I’m on the right path.”
Langhorne Slim — born Sean Scolnick in Langhorne, Pa. in 1980 — will be be crossing paths with a local audience this week when he comes to St. Cecilia Music Center’s Royce Auditorium for a solo acoustic concert Thursday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Acoustic Café Folk Series. Tickets are still available.
Slim moved to Brooklyn at 18, and has literally traveled all across the nation but currently calls Nashville home. He has played major festivals like Newport Folk Festival, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and Bonnaroo, and has toured with The Lumineers, The Devil Makes Three, and the Avett Brothers. He will most recent recording is 2015’s “The Spirit Moves”. The New Yorker described him as having “Leadbelly’s gift for storytelling and Dylan’s ability to captivate crowds.”
“Great musicians are those who speak to us on a deep emotional level and Langhorne Slim has that unique quality,” said Cathy Holbrook, SCMC executive director.
To say the least, Slim is “unique.”
SCMC’s Acoustic Café Series is hosted by Rob Reinhart, of the Ann Arbor based Acoustic Café radio program which is syndicated to over 100 commercial and non-commercial stations throughout the country. A post-concert “Meet-the-artist” reception with a cash bar will be offered to all ticket-holders giving the audience the opportunity to meet Langhorne Slim and obtain signed CDs of his releases.
For more information call 616-459-2224 or visit scmc-online.org
What’s Next:
Additional concerts in the 2016-17 Acoustic Café Series include St. Louis based Pokey LaFarge on Feb. 9, Grammy nominated Texas-trio Los Lonely Boys on March 14, country soul sensation Margo Price on April 6, and Grammy Award winning Marc Cohn — of the 1991’s Grammy winning ballad “Walking in Memphis” — on April 13.
