Gram Parsons coined the term “Cosmic American Music” as a way to describe his unique blend of country, Americana and rock. It’s a term that I couldn’t get out of my head when I finally got a chance to see the Fleet Foxes and Blitzen Trapper – two bands that I’ve previous fluffed on this here blog – on Saturday night.
I was absolutely blown away by both acts, who have a very throwback quality to their sounds. The Fleet Foxes easily would have fit into the Laural Canyon scene with their lilting CSNY-esque harmonies, while Blitzen Trapper may have been found up in San Francisco on the psychedelic ballroom circuit. Since I can now vouch for their live show, I wanted to give you a taste…
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Their joint tour continues over the next month, so if it’s coming to a city near you go and see it. We bet you won’t be disappointed.
4 Responses
I was at the show too and thought it was great – particularly Trapper’s “Country Caravan” was a great Burrito’s style rocker.
The only disappointing thing about the whole night was the amount of people that left after Fleet Foxes – they missed quite a set from BT.
I know the place was more than half empty by the end. I spoke with Brian, the drummer for Trapper before the show – he was an incredibly nice guy. I asked him what he thought about being compared to the Dead by Rolling Stone and he said he wasn’t at all bothered by the comparison. But named Pavement and Neil young as big influences as well.
Very nice. Yeah they have a lot of Dead in them.What really surprised me was the harmonica playing – you don’t hear that on the new album at all.