Lawrence County are a 5-sometimes 6- piece band creating Americana, Alternative Country/Folk fusion sounds with an influence of the DH Lawrence countryside. They are currently playing in a pub near you and took time out for this interview.
Hi Guys, can you give an individual rundown of the members of the band.
Robert “Big Bob” Carlisle bangs the Cajon
Martin Gallimore plays fiddle and accordion
Pete Herron plays bass
Bill Kerry III sings and plays guitar and banjo, and also twangs the electric guitar at times
Al Rate sings and plays guitar and banjo and anything else he finds lying around the stage!
Charlotte Pynegar does the proper singing, when she can get back from Liverpool!
Our female singers have also included Stevie-Leigh Goodison (The Most Ugly Child) and Maz Clarke.
Can you tell us about your musical backgrounds, how you met and describe your sound?
We’re a raggle taggle bunch from a variety of backgrounds. The back line have their origins in Punk, with big bass man Pete Heron bringing the very best grimy grooves from the dock lands of the Grimsby Punk scene. His later forays into jazz are spoken about in hushed tones. Our only celebrity band member, Cajon player Big Bob, has spent years honing his craft in a variety of folk and Americana bands over the years, and is one of the most sought-after rhythm men on the scene. Yes, you probably do recognise him from the ‘Al Murray’s Happy Hour’ … and yes, he nearly made it onto ‘I’m A Celebrity’. Multi-instrumentalist (fiddle, accordion and keyboards) Martin Gallimore is a musical phenomenon who fuses a range of genres from Gypsy jazz to lounge. The barrel house piano on ‘I Don’t Sing Country Anymore’ is a testament to his virtuoso skill. Bagthorpe delta song writer Al Rate has his origins firmly in folk music and storytelling. Rate brings elements of darkness and humour to the song writing. His foray into Americana helped him hone his creativity, but his subject matter seldom strays far from home and retains a local accent. The cowboy of Kimberley, front man and Fender twanger Bill Kerry III is a song writing phenomenon. Lover of folk music, Americana and Alt-Country, Kerry has recently turned his attention to Country Music … but not as you know it. His exquisitely crafted tales are perhaps illustrated best by the tortuous ‘Lights Go Out’. A rose between five thorns, Charlotte Pynegar brings a much needed gentleness to the band with the purity of her folky voice. Her style, determinedly honed at the local folk club, is a crowd silencer and has been known to make grown men weep.
We basically met in the pub.
Who has influenced you most in music and what are your most treasured records?
We have such a broad influence, as suggested above.
Martin Gallimore cites The Yardbirds’ Five Live Yardbirds Recorded at the Marquee Club. The Yardbirds played ten American songs in a show in London with Clapton only having recently joined them.
Al was influenced heavily by Leonard Cohen in the early days, moving towards Richmond Fontaine, Bonnie Prince Billy and the Felice Brothers as key acts which help push Lawrence County towards their dark but melodic Americana sound. Al’s most treasured record? - the Anthology of American Folk Music - six-album compilation released in 1952 by Folkways Records … a magnificent historical compilation.
Bill Kerry was/is a huge Billy Bragg fan, as well as being obsessed with The Clash and The Jam in his teens. Alongside these English bands, there has always been a US influence: Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, Justin Townes Earle, Sturgill Simpson, Jeff Tweedy, etc. Classic country also plays a big part in Bill’s influences, with the likes of George Jones and Johnny Cash never too far from the turntable. There’s been a recent surge of ‘underground’ country/folk music from the States, and acts like Benjamin Tod (Lost Dog Street Band), Vincent Neil Emerson, and Courtney Marie Andrews are incredible. Jeffrey Martin and Anna Tivel are amazing songwriters too. The list goes on! Most treasured record? That’s like asking who’s your favourite child! OK, a bit of a cliché, but Bill does own a first 1962 Columbia pressing of Bob Dylan’s first album. Still full of energy.
What other local artists do you consider to be important to the Nottingham music scene? Nottingham has a thriving and eclectic music scene and as such, all local musicians are important. Ferocious Dog are a great example. Their dogged determination to remain original, independent and retain a social consciousness is admirable. In the genres that we inhabit … The Most Ugly Child are a stand out act … and they originate from the same Notts village as us (Underwood/Bagthorpe). We are great supporters of the local scene and it’s great to see the original music that has developed out of Notts, from George Gadd, through to Ben Smith, Cookie to pigeonistas The King of Rome. Everyone plays their unique part; we truly love them all!
How has lockdown affected your creativity as both individuals and as a band?
Like everyone else, it’s been a challenge. Initially I guess we thought “hey, loads of time now we’re not gigging, let’s write / create”. But that weird thing kicked in where because there was no stimulus, it became increasingly difficult to create new material. Instead, we decided to turn our attention to re-interpreting a bunch of traditional folk songs, working our way through England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, and America. Our real folky band members (i.e. Martin Gallimore) is getting very nervous at the thought of our dark, telecaster-tinged reinventions being performed in his beloved folk clubs! We may have to keep them for the road-house gigs. We plan to do a series of field recordings for these songs.
I understand you have released an album, can you tell us the idea or theme behind the material?
Yes, ’The Frailty of Humans’ was ironically due for release on the 28th March 2020 the eve of the first pandemic lock down. Sadly, we never got to release it or tour the album as a result. The record has been very well received in the music press and was described as “One of the finest British Americana albums of recent years’ … by Aldora Britain Records.
Though it was never actually meant to be prophetic, but it’s a collection of songs which deals with the frailties of the human psyche from both an individual and collective perspective … and never in our lifetimes have seen such times of uncertainty, division and unrest. So as it turns out it was perfectly timed as a social commentary … As Woody Guthrie once said, “It is a folk singer’s job to make comfortable people uncomfortable, and uncomfortable people comfortable’ … and whilst we don’t go out of our way to do those things, we do like to think of some of our songs having something to say. ‘Bye Bye Americae’ is a musical history lesson of the Trump years. You’ll find dark tales from the Bagthorpe Delta, inhabited by ghosts, preacher men and vulnerable maidens … there’s a toe tapping account of the end of the World … it’s a veritable cornucopia of love, life and death, with everything in between.
Are you currently gigging?
We got back to gigging a few weeks ago and have been slowly getting our mojo back after the long layoff, where none of us felt much like playing or writing at all. Like everyone else, it has been a strange journey, but the support and understanding from our friends and supporters has been amazing. We have a couple of gigs at the end of October – Barley Mow at Bonsall, Derbyshire, and the Dixies Arms, Bagthorpe. Then we have a few local gigs running up to Christmas as part of the “There’s Nowt Much Goin’ On Before Christmas Tour” We have some exciting gigs and festival announcements for 2022! Keep an eye on our website and Facebook page!
Where can folks get to listen to your music?
Website - https://www.lawrencecountymusic.com
Bandcamp - https://lawrencecountymusic.bandcamp.com
Spotify – Lawrence County
Instagram: @lawrencecountyuk
Twitter: @LawrenceMusicUK