With an eccentric mix of country and offshade country, it’s hard to believe Jeff Evans wasn’t a member of either The Meat Puppets or Butthole Surfers for at least even an album sometime back in the mid or late-80s. He certainly seems to follow in the path of artists like Jeff Pinkus, Paul Leary, and Curt Kirkwood, where the bizzaro meets “kind of” melodic. With his new outfit Jeff Evans Porkesta, the weird carries on via the new six-song EP and debut Porkestra album– Willow Pillow.
A veteran of the Atlanta roots/alt-country underground, Evans has released nine albums to date with his project Chickens and Pigs and has shared bills with fellow travelers such as Eric Lindell, Michelle Malone, Delta Moon, Southern Culture on the Skids, and the late great Dex Romweber of the Flat Duo Jets.
“Most of my songs are about animals, food, and girls,” Evans says. “The name Chickens and Pigs came from a dream I had back in the late ’90s. My day job at the time was landscaping. One time, it rained and we didn’t have to go to work, so I took an early afternoon nap, and I had this extremely vivid dream. There was a barnyard full of animals milling around, and a stage with musical instruments. At some point a dog gets up on stage, steps to the mic and says to the barnyard animals, “Welcome chickens and pigs!” And sure enough the chickens and pigs come up from the barnyard, start playing all these instruments, and it was the most amazing music I’ve ever heard. Almost like Sun Ra—some sort of space jazz. When I finally woke up, the band name stuck with me. So the name Porkestra is basically the punchline to a 25 year old joke.”
Evans cut Willow Pillow at East Atlanta Recording—an old converted Craftsman bungalow—alongside producer/engineer/bassist Sean McPherson, with whom he’s made a half-dozen albums. “Sean’s got fantastic equipment—some really great vintage stuff, some wonderful microphones,” Evans says. “And most importantly, he’s got a great ear. After making so many records together, Sean instinctively knows what I’m trying to do, sometimes even quicker than I do.”
Glide is premiering the cantankerously joyful “Happy Earthquake,” which buzzes with ol’ Nashville authenticity and tinkers listeners to ask just, ” Who the hell is this?”
“Happy Earthquake” is a true-life love story about my girlfriend Carole and me—from meeting in the basement of an art gallery where my band was playing, through our first international trip together a few months later. Every word of the song is true, including her misplacing her license, which meant we had to rent the car in my name but I can’t drive a stick, so she had to do all the driving, and—like everyone in Italy—she drove like a bat out of hell. The phrase “happy earthquake” came from an older woman we met who ran our Airbnb near the Alps. We think she meant to say *happy accident* about how Carole and I met, but didn’t quite get the phrase correct,” says Evans
The post SONG PREMIERE: Jeff Evans Porkestra Drops Forthright & Eccentric Americana With “Happy Earthquake” appeared first on Glide Magazine.
