iSound

There he is, in porkpie hat and dandy thrift store suit, looking like a fresh-faced grifter bluesman. Langhorne Slim was born in the 80s but is the kind of man who routinely refers to his lovers as "mama." He is some kind of throwback to an earlier time. And yet he is clearly madly in love with the 21st century. And women. And dancing. And dancing with women. Langhorne's songs come out of American vernacular music -- the race and hillbilly sounds that peaked in the '20s and '30s in what Greil Marcus so famously called “the old, weird America.” Well, Langhorne makes music for the new, weird America. It’s not like it’s political music, it's just that we live in intense times and Langhorne brings it all back home in the form of music. Deep feelings trump troubled times any day of the week. It's not like he's mining the allegedly tapped-out veins of Americana for authenticity, though; Langhorne just can’t say it any other way, at least for now. See, the musi...