POKEY LAFARGE
KNICKERBOCKER MFG. CO.
Pokey LaFarge is a musician and storyteller. From his home in St. Louis, Missouri he takes long looks from shore to shore, observing the news of the day, feeling the direction of the social winds, ingesting sights and sounds from all around. This feeling is interpreted in his work.
As a writer of music and words, Pokey is a narrator of the American experience. In his songs, people fall in and out (and back into) love; the rich and the poor alike line up to riot; nights are plagued by bad dreams; and the wide-open country provides respite from the ills of life. Amid all of those threads, Pokey chips away incessantly at the notion of what it means to be a better man. Time and again, we see him attempting – and not quite achieving – this elusive goal. And while the drum of those topics beats away, the beauty and mystery of Pokey’s beloved sport baseball hums in the background of it all.
The soundtrack to all of these stories is composed from a vast arsenal of music forms. The new album, with his refined foundation of Jazz, Ragtime, Country, Western Swing and Rock n Roll is more elastic – and more powerful – than ever, with the added soul of Roy Orbison and Tom Waits, the colorful grooves of Rocksteady, and the raw ensemble energy of The Kinks.
Pokey has earned a reputation as a tireless, charismatic live performer. He has won a loyal international fanbase that packs his rousing, celebratory live shows around the world. From Amsterdam, Holland to Bloomington, Illinois; from Byron Bay, Australia to London, England – people come to witness live performances of this man and his cracking band.
Since he began recording in 2006, Pokey has maintained a noted work ethic that’s yielded loads of compelling music. He started out releasing records on his own. Then JACK WHITE signed him to his THIRD MAN label for an album; on that record, Pokey traveled the world supporting Jack’s concert tour. Today, Pokey is signed to the legendary ROUNDER RECORDS label – and this spring, they will issue his new album MANIC REVELATIONS.
2017 isn’t just a year for a new album. It also marks Pokey’s debut as an actor and clothing designer.
On February 23 the CMT scripted TV series SUN RECORDS will debut. In the series, he plays HANK SNOW – country music legend, and the Man Who Discovered ELVIS PRESLEY. The series is based on the hit Broadway musical THE MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET.
And, as Pokey’s fashion style is as distinctive and pointed as his words and music, he has joined forces with Knickerbocker Mfg. Co. of New York to create a capsule collection of men’s clothing. Pokey has studied the forms of American workman’s clothing, suiting and shirting, and the materials that have gone into these garments. And he has put those observations into each item in the Pokey LaFarge collection, which debuted on February 6.
A FEW WORDS FROM POKEY
“At a factory, on the border of Queens and Brooklyn, there are dozens of younger men and women, of all colors and creeds, working away at sewing machines, hunched over design tables, surrounded by yards and yards of various fabric. Blue, blue, so much blue, it would make a denim junkie overdose! The spools of wool, the various cottons, the boxes of buttons, you put this all together and it adds up to a lifestyle.
A pair of chinos and a white tee, with a skateboard on a sunny day; a chore coat and a flannel, a shovel and a snow pile; a singer on stage in a sack suit or an office worker in pleated pants and a collared shirt – Knickerbocker Mfg. Co. gets that every day is filled with the many moments that breathe life into the expression of who you are. Your body and the clothes you wear are an art form. Why not learn about them, evolve, and express them? Why not champion those who make products ethically?
Working with Knickerbocker Mfg. Co., for me, is about the pursuit of original artistic expression and promoting high-quality clothing, while simultaneously protesting the enticing comforts of sameness, which work to water down our life. Make it strong, make it loud, and make it last.”
– Pokey LaFarge
