Who: Pokey Lafarge and the South City Three

What: Savannah Stopover Monthly Concert Series

When: Thursday, November 17th, 2011. 8:30pm (Doors open at 8pm)

Where: Ships Of The Sea Maritime Museum Garden, 41 MLK Blvd, Savannah, Ga.

Tickets: $12 on Showclix (a portion of every ticket goes to support the museum)

Why: Cuz everybody gets the la la blues

Of the many roots musicians traveling the world, spreading the early American music tradition, St. Louis musician and singer Pokey LaFarge is the next in line to make a significant impact on music enthusiasts everywhere. His creative mix of early jazz, string ragtime, country blues and western swing rings true and fine, making him one of the most innovative of all the purists performing American roots music today. It’s wonderfully infectious, and all laid down in front of a big, big swingin’ beat. A lot of performers are content to play old material, reworking the tunes to give them new life or to stamp them with personal style. But LaFarge both achieves timelessness with his original songs and honors the legendary songwriters and musicians of songs he covers. He uses his booming voice as an instrument with an incredible range; above his parlor guitar one moment he shouts a line and the next he croons. And while his music may be a fitting soundtrack to R. Crumb’s comics, don’t dare to call it “old-timey.” Whether performing solo or with his crew of painstakingly hand-picked supporting musicians, Lafarge’s extraordinary blend of raw talent and refined, idiosyncratic charm turns reviewers into poets as they attempt to label his one-of-a-kind sound.

Terry Nolan of No Depression may have described LaFarge and his album best, as he mused that the songster “could be the birth of the next Bill Monroe creating such a fine mix of ragtime, jugband, blues, folk and country, he has found his own genre. For now, he’s solidly in the contemporary Americana genre, only because the music is hard to categorize. And I think Pokey LaFarge prefers it that way. Catch him on record and live before he leaves us all in his dust.”

Listen to Pokey at the Newport Folk Festival here! Get your tickets for the Savannah show here!