Metro Pulse/Music/Dodd Ferrelle and the Tinfoil Stars

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What:
Dodd Ferrelle and the Tinfoil Stars

When:
Saturday, June 7, 9:30 pm

Where:
Manhattans

Cost:
$3

Indie rocker gravitates toward the country sound

by John Sewell

I have excellent news for the world, news that shouldn't really come as a shock to anyone. My life's long, wretched journey has finally found me at a place where rock 'n' roll music, especially today's rock 'n' roll music, no longer says it all for me. I dunno, the tried-and-true/hackneyed subject matter of fast cars, fast women, live-fast-die-young and f__k the man just doesn't seem urgent or even relevant anymore.

Heck, I've even begun to face the gnarly truth that country music—real country music, that is—well, it rocks. Coming to this realization is by no means a sign of softening because, hey, country is hardcore.

Athens, Ga.-based musician Dodd Ferrelle just might have come to similar conclusions via his musical evolution. "I've been playing in bands since I was 16," says Ferrelle. "When I was younger, it was more of a rock thing. When you're young, you want to bash out everything as fast as possible and keep it aggressive. Today, I think my songwriting is a lot more focused.

"I'm also finding that my audience is a bit older these days, which I like," Ferrelle continues. "I mean, we get people from 18 to like the mid-40s. But I think our core audience is really people that are about my age: I'm 34."

Aware of Athens' status as a hipster Mecca and indie music hotbed, Ferrelle moved there in the mid '90s, quickly establishing himself in the higher echelon of the Athens scene by playing in bands with members of Dreams So Real and with former Pylon drummer Curtis Crowe. Though his current sound is slightly more rootsy, Ferrelle's past as a part of the indie rock world is a definite asset. You can take an indie rocker out of the garage, but you can't take the garage out of his music.

Abetted by his full-time band, The Tinfoil Stars, Ferrelle has surely hit stride as a songwriter while retaining more than enough grit and fury to shake any dive to its foundation. Their most recent opus, Always Almost There (Lighthouse Music) recalls Rolling Thunder-era Dylan, early Springsteen and maybe even a hint of Clash. "If I had to list my influences they'd probably be The Beatles, Mike Scott of the Waterboys, D. Boon (late, great Minutemen frontman) and of course Paul Westerberg," says Ferrelle.

Ferrelle's newfound songwriting focus seems like the result of a long learning process rather than a studied, money-driven move to "go country." Something about his songs just communicates sincerity. And by saying that, I certainly don't mean the paint-by-numbers kind of sincerity that is peddled in any and all pop music genres.

Wary of pigeonholing, Ferrelle is reluctant to adopt "the A word" (Americana) when referring to his music. "I just call what I do with The Tinfoil Stars new American rock—kind of in between roots rock, classic rock and Americana," says Ferrelle. "The Americana tag has been thrown around so much that I really don't even know what that means anymore. There are lots of elements to our music and I know that people are going to classify it somehow, which is OK, I guess. I mean, when people write about your music they have to describe it somehow."

Ferrelle is adamant that, though the group bears his name front and center, Dodd Ferrelle & The Tinfoil Stars is a team effort, not a solo project. "The Tinfoil Stars is really a solid band, and that's the kind of situation I've always wanted. These days, we have a really good, tight unit. The band has a lot of input in the songs, and I want to continue working that way."

The Stars definitely appear to be a band that is hell-bent on gaining recognition. The group has been on the road nonstop since November of 2002. In July, they'll take a well-deserved month off, and then back to the road. Then, in December, they'll record another album.

Like Almost Always There, the next Tinfoil Stars album will be produced by Athens-based David Barbe. The former bassist of Sugar, Barbe is currently making quite a name for himself as a producer—most notably for his work with the Drive By Truckers.

"David's really great to work with because he's been on both sides of the glass in the studio," says Ferrelle. "We kind of have an unspoken agreement with Dave: he already knows what kind of sound we're looking for and he's really easy to work with."