The Scarecrowes

TV Mike and the Scarecrows are outsiders with insight. With one foot in the same Bay Area bayou that the Fogerty brothers once walked and the other foot in, well, the same Bay Are bayou that birthed The Dead, these mostly-Hoosier transplants have been known to make a stir from Mendocino to the San Joaquin to every honky-tonk and hipster bar in between. With Swagger to spare they steer a course between Beachwood Sparks' cosmic-country and the more trad. bluegrass leanings of The Avett Brothers, both with whom they have shared stages.



Spittin Cursive is the product of their kitchen gatherings and freewheelin' travels on the California gold dust circuit. The name is cleverly suggestive of the band's chemistry: wild and civil, at once crude and sophisticated, both of the body and of the mind.



TV Mike, who cut his songwriting teeth on several solo national tours and as front man to The Pious Companion, further proves his wit with playful lyrical twists like this from "Beetle Bailey Burner":



"Beetle Bailey burner, mustache machete, why do all your riches turn to confetti/ With your high rope walker, tight rope tower, why's that brine got to be so sour?"



De Delarosa adds soulful vocal support to The Scarecrows while Emery Barter and Charlie Knote on bass and drums respectively, keep these rad news bears in rhythm. Toby Oler , banjo, and Matt Lundquist, guitar, color both inside and outside the lines, rounding out this high-spirited clan of the canned beer.



TV Mike and the Scarecrows like it fast and loose. They like to clap and dance and hope to burn a barn or two each time out, no matter what elected official might be in earshot. Their songs paint simple stories of hearts and pines in the incandescent light of another Saturday night.



Nate Baker