Championed by Jack White, this St. Louis native draws from a deep well of early jazz, ragtime, country blues and Western swing. Timeless rather than retro, songs like the otherworldly “Goodbye, Barcelona” and Pokey’s proud Midwestern tribute “Knocking the Dust off the Rust Belt Tonight” are proof of his fresh approach.
Pokey LaFarge brought his distinctly old-timey brand of what he calls riverboat soul to Berlin’s Imperial Club last night. Making his debut in the German capital with his five-piece band, LaFarge, dressed in a dark suit, fedora and two-tone brogue shoes, introduced Hoagy Carmichael’s “Riverboat Shuffle” by asking the audience the name of the city’s river. “Spree,” shouted the crowd in the peculiar German pronunciation of “schpray.” “Right,” said LaFarge, not attempting to repeat the word himself, much to the locals’ amusement. The dapper bandleader then kicked into a spirited rendition of Carmichael’s tune, with some inspired harmonica and washboard playing from his bearded cowboy sidekick R...
