Sonfolk

Description

The self-titled album by the American rock band Sonfolk was released on Artronics in 1971. The album was recorded at Artronics Studio A in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Sonfolk is backed by Warren Hanson on acoustic guitar and violin, Mike Scrogging on slide guitar, Bob Derrickson on acoustic and electric guitars, John Lindekugal on acoustic guitar and bass, and Jack Taylor on bass (“thanks friends for helping us“).

Minnesota’s Sonfolk consists of two guys and one girl, backed on this appealing primitive custom production by five additional guests. Side one consists mainly of folky guitar-and-piano light rock covers such as «Sweet Sweet Spirit», «Morning Has Broken», and «Wish We’d All Been Ready», dragging a bit on a medley of «Bridge Over Troubled Water» and «The Old Rugged Cross». A lazy country rocker «God Power» pokes along quietly with some nice electric guitar. Side two, however, are where the real surprises come in. «Stand» charges forth with a crude driving fuzzed riff, ending with some psychy warbled reverse guitar. More psychy basement guitar envelopes the forlorn «Traveling Man», an excellent rural rock kind of ballad. The bluesy «Personal Boogie» struts along slowly with wailing harmonica, slick bottleneck guitar and seedy vocals, while the ballad «Matthew 6:22» gets a lift from a wistful violin accompaniment. The moody rural vibes resurface on the powerful 7-minute «Homecoming», starting softly on a mysterious acoustic theme, building up to a hard-rocking climax, then quietly fading out again. Simple black and white cover photo of the trio seated under a pine tree. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” – 3:46
A2. “Morning Has Broken” – 3:25
A3. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” / “The Old Rugged Cross” – 5:42
A4. “God Power” – 3:37
A5. “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” – 4:05

Side Two
B1. “Stand” – 1:58
B2. “Traveling Man” – 4:26
B3. “Personal Boogie” – 2:56
B4. “Matthew 6:22” – 5:09
B5. “Homecoming” – 7:10

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