Longtime WFPK favorite Pokey LaFarge has announced his new album, Rhumba Country, with the release of the lead single and video for, “Sister Andre.”
Pokey says the new track is “a love song for those who are lonely and looking and waiting to love and be loved. An encouragement to never give up the patient pursuit. It could come at any time! Encouragement in this case comes from Sister André, who inspired this song the day of her passing after 118 years of age.”
The album is his attempt to capture the sound of pure joy. “There was a time when I glorified sadness because I lost sight of who I was,” Pokey says, “but now I understand that creating and expressing joy is my gift, and gifts are meant to be shared.”
As for the album title, Pokey named Brazilian singer/composer Jorge Ben among his key inspirations. “Listening to a lot of music from around the world helped simplify my approach. The more you listen to music from around the world, you realize everybody’s got their form of country music. It goes back to why I named the album Rhumba Country in the first place: it’s poking fun at the futility of boxing everything into a few genres, ‘What is folk music? What is country or soul?’ I’ve always bucked at all those boundaries and found it much more exciting to create my own genre.”
Rhumba County will be released May 10 on New West Records.
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