Metro Pulse/Music/Trent Summar

Comment
on this story

Trent Summar, the new record, and his rural roots

by John Sewell

Almost any country musician has at least one song in his/her repertoire that proclaims just how country he/she really is. For example, Barbara Mandrell scored one of her biggest crossover hits with "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool." Now that much of country music is pretty much mainstream pop, hearing someone claim they're really country is about as convincing as hearing a politician claim that he's honest or that he's a Washington outsider.

Upon hearing Trent Summar's (abetted by his band, The New Row Mob) song, "I'm Country," I had my doubts. Summar first came to public attention as a member of the regionally popular Hank Flamingo in the '80s, and I'd always assumed that he was just another suburban kid slumming in the country camp in the wake of bands like Jason & the Scorchers.

"I used to raise pigs and I grew up on a farm," says Summar. "I'm a hillbilly hippy. I was born and raised in Tennessee. Eight generations of my mother's family have worked the same farm. We always lived on a little farm; we raised pigs and cows and horses.

"I used to gut hogs," Summar continues. "And we used to have to cut their tails and break their teeth—all that stuff. It ain't no fun."

Sure, Hank Flamingo and now Trent Summar and the New Row Mob gained popularity through playing college markets. But Summar was never a cowpunk per se. Actually, three members of Hank Flamingo were agriculture majors while the band was at its peak.

So now that Summar is in the limelight again with his new band, he's acquired a newfound political sensibility in regards to the family farm. "I ain't trying to pull wool over nobody's eyes," says Summar. "I live in Nashville and I'm a musician, but if you ask me what my true beliefs are, I'd have to say I'm a nature boy. I'll stand up on a soapbox and tell you what I think about farms versus factories in a second.

"Just recently, we played some shows with Willie Nelson and ended up co-hosting Farm Aid. It was an absolute honor and the pinnacle of my career to do that. Playing Farm Aid changed my life just to know that there's so much support for a more organic look to meats and foods—at least offering people a choice."

Though his participation in Farm Aid did open his eyes, Summar says he is not trying to preach his convictions. Sure, he may be opinionated, but what he's really pushing is his new, self-titled album.

After more than a decade in the music industry, it looks like things are finally going to take off. The single "New Money" was number one on the Gavin charts for Americana music, and the video has received a lot of rotation on CMT and other major outlets. The surge of interest, hype and sales is great, but it's the music that matters most.

"I'm somewhat detached from the end result because I like it so much and I'm satisfied," says Summar. "I'm being completely honest with you here. Yeah, I'd love for it to take off and sell, whatever. But at the same time, I already know we made a great record and we're doing the best job we can to push it.

"It's a hillbilly rock 'n' roll record, no doubt about it," Summar continues. "It's country soul; it's waterbed country: above ground swimming pool, muscle car country. It's exactly the record I've always wanted to make and I'm completely, absolutely satisfied with every inch of it."

It's rare to find a musician so thrilled with his own release, but Summar seems sincere. He's also quite pleased with the way his label is marketing the band. His label, VFR Records, first pushed the band to Americana and secondary country stations. And now the push is towards more mainstream country outlets.

"We've got a really smart, small record label and I was the first act they signed," says Summar. "We sat down before there was even a staff and we talked about what we wanted to do. And they just told me that they liked what I did in Hank Flamingo, they liked my new songs, and they said go make the record—go make art. Now, I don't know if you'd consider it art. But it's definitely what we wanted to do.

"It really does transcend all genres. It's country, it's rock 'n' roll, it's what they call triple A and it fits the college radio format. We're legitimately working all four formats and we want to try to do it all. There's no set strategy—we're just kind of making it up as we go.

"We're looking at this as a slow build. We're just trying to have a grass roots approach. You can have the best marketing plan on Earth. But if you don't have a good product, it just doesn't matter."

After a pause, Summar rethinks the previous statement. "Well, it seems like some records get successful when they're not good, but anyway...I think we've got a great record to stand on."