Pokey LaFarge

Born Andrew Heissler in Bloomington, Illinois, Pokey LaFarge took his nickname from his mother, who used it to hurry him along as a boy. Two grandfathers shaped him: one, a St. Louis Banjo Club man, gave him his first guitar, while the other, an amateur historian, taught him about the Civil War and World War II. Older blues players such as Skip James drew him in as a teenager, and hearing Bill Monroe at sixteen sent him swapping the guitar for a mandolin. His sound spans Americana, early jazz, ragtime, Western swing and Appalachian folk.

His debut, Marmalade, came out independently in 2006, and the band he formed with Ryan Koenig, Joey Glynn and Adam Hoskins, The South City Three, made Riverboat Soul in 2010, winning the Independent Music Award for Best Americana Album. Middle of Everywhere won it again in 2011. Jack White later asked the band to play on "I Guess I Should Go to Sleep" for Blunderbuss. Third Man and then Rounder Records brought Something in the Water, Manic Revelations and In the Blossom of Their Shade, with Rhumba Country due in May 2024.