As we've told you before, Blitzen Trapper's 2008 release Furr was easily one of our favorite albums from last year - top three no doubt and still hangin' tough on the multiple spins list.  The bands seems to be taking a lead stance in the creation of modern era "American" music while still pulling from and blending up classic influences.

I often feel very lucky to see as many bands, in these most intimate of ways, as I do.  I get a little excited that I'll be able to talk to my daughter when she's older about all the amazing music I saw in my lifetime.   Hopefully, at some point post-angst-ridden teenage years, she'll care.

I saw two very different Blitzen Trapper shows last year.  One, at the Monolith Music Festival, was a high-energy rock show that was packed with rabid fans and A-list bands all trying to see why this band was generating so much excitement.  The other was a very relaxed, almost country-folk show at a sub-200 person venue.  I can't really tell which I liked more.  At Monolith you might have thought this band has transcended to that next level of ridiculous tour riders and plush buses, but at the second, the band played pool with audience members and sold their own merch still.  I count myself very lucky to have experienced both and left both sets with a genuine feelings of excitement and admiration.  I have a feeling the second still suited the band's values and Oregon way of life, but I'm glad they aren't shrinking from the lime light either.  From our recent interview with lead singer Eric Earley, it sounds like you'll have ample chances to catch Blitzen Trapper this summer at a festival near you and I hope you take that opportunity.  I have no doubt the stage sizes will have grown.

With their progressive improvement from album to album, it's easy to put your faith in this band, to raise them up as a cornerstone of indie or modern Americana music.  They're the kind of band you'll talk about in your golden years, the kind that might incite those ridiculous generational quality comparision arguements.  The whipper-snappers might say, at that point, that the haze has grown thicker and maybe your heart has grown fonder because of it, but you'll know.

MP3 Session Downloads:

Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer
Blitzen Trapper - Furr
Blitzen Trapper - The Last Thing On My Mind (Tom Paxton cover) 
 

Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Jeff DuPont
Filmed and Edited by Doug Fellegy & Stacie Grissom