Robert Lester Folsom – Ode to a Rainy Day: Archives 1972-1975

Description

The first collection of unearthed, unheard material fromGeorgia’s favourite folk hero, Robert Lester Folsom. Fans of the1976 private press grail Music And Dreams will revel in thiscarefully curated assemblage of mellow gold, including theprescient, potent cuts See You Later, Im Gone and Heaven onthe Beach With You. Ode to a Rainy Day is now available onSouth Georgia Sun orange coloured vinyl.

Robert Lester Folsoms story isnt all that uncommon in theparlance of his era. He spent the 1960s growing up in Adel,Georgia, a small town nearer to Valdosta and Floridas northernborder than anything resembling rock & roll, obsessing over hisguitar as his craft and skills grew. Folsom would write andrecord a wealth of material in the early 1970s, which makes upthe backbone of Ode to a Rainy Day – the first time thesesongs have been heard in decades.

Ode to a Rainy Day showcases both impeccable songwriting across light folk, downer pop, front porch rock and woodshedcountry tropes, combined with ingenious arrangements and technical skills across primitive recording equipment. Thebeauty of Ode to a Rainy Day lies in its tracking of the seasons in its cycle, how each song feels like a different time of year.Folsoms legitimate debut would have to wait until 1976, whenhe self-released the album Music And Dreams, which bringsthe ideas presented on Ode to a Rainy Day into clear, polishedrelief, lushly appointed with synthesizers, clavinet, an army ofpercussion and multiple tracks of orchestration andarrangements thatll make you feel like youve heard any ofthese wonderful songs before.

Folsom provides a homespun challenge to then-establishedartists as far flung as Todd Rundgren, Neil Young and KC & TheSunshine Band, albeit with touches that credit his upbringingfrom the decade prior. Had the record any manner of majorlabel backing, it couldve been a hit; as it stands, Music AndDreams has quietly amassed a cult following, with originalcopies trading for handsome sums.

For fans of Art Lown, F. J. McMahon, The Rising Storm, Jode,Arthur Russel, Neil Young, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, ArtGarfunkel, Linda Perhacs, Vashti Bunyan, Todd Rundgren, TimBuckley.

Tracklist:

Ode to a Rainy Day
Written in Your Hair
Love is
Heaven on the Beach
See You Later, Im Gone
She
On and On
Another Sunday Morning
Situations
Oblivion
Cant You See
Blue Velvet
Show Me to the Window