Live from the Boom Room is a live music video series featuring live performances recorded in the Blip Blap Video HQ bunker in St. Louis, Mo. Learn more about Blip Blap Video at blipblapvideo.com, or follow them on Instagram and YouTube.
This week’s episode features Samir Knox performing his original, “Don’t Let Me Turn My Back on You.”
About this week’s artist:
St. Louis, Missouri’s The Goldenrods can be best described as “Country and Midwestern.” They perform charming original material as well as regional classics from across middle America. They play two steps, waltzes, and polkas; songs both happy and sad, silly and serious, often sung in harmony.
The Goldenrods are fronted by Ryan Koenig (ex-Pokey LaFarge) singing and playing fiddle, octave mandolin, plectrum banjo, and guitar. The band is completed with Jess Adkins (So Grand Polka Band) singing and playing accordion and guitar, as well as Kellie Everett (The Hooten Hallers) singing and playing upright bass.
What brought you to this point in your life as a working St. Louis artist?
Ryan Koenig: I started playing music at local block parties, halls, and clubs when I was about 16. I was about 20 when I first started traveling out of state to play shows. I was about 24 when I quit my last day job to tour full time. I was full time with Pokey Lafarge for almost 10 years, until being run over by a car in 2017. Recovering from a traumatic brain injury has taken quite a while, and only now do I feel ready to work in the capacity I used to.
What inspires your music?
Lyrically I like to tell stories, but I also love writing songs that are catchy and well-delivered. Stylistically I’ve always listened to a wide variety of music, but I truly enjoy filling the gaps in entertainment left by dying performers or changing tastes.
Who in St. Louis are you inspired by right now?
Other than a lot of the folks I’m already performing with (who are all inspiring in their own right) the musician I’m most inspired and impressed by right now is Royce Martin. Even though I’ll never be able to have his background, skill, and vision I love that his music is equal parts intellectual, raw, personal, and fun.
What bands are you performing with lately?
Personally, I’m performing in The Goldenrods most frequently. I’m also in So Grand Polka Band, Rum Drum Ramblers, and The New Missouri Fox Hunters. I’m frequently in Miss Jubilee, and occasionally in Fiddlin’ Sam’s Bolo Band or the Gaslight Squares. The Goldenrods in the past few years have shared bills with out of towners like The Squirrel Nut Zippers, Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, Sean Geil of The Tillers, Esther Rose, Sweet Megg, Miss Tess and the Talkbacks, Brody Hunt and the Handfuls, New Earth Holler, Molly Taylor, and Rikki Jean.
Where do you hope to be in 5 years?
It may be wishful thinking, but in 5 years I’d like to be on the road more than we are now, and have an established fan base in America and overseas. I’d love to be back in some of the venues and back on some of the festivals that I was during my time with Pokey Lafarge. I hope to have at least two more LPs recorded with The Goldenrods before 5 years from now.
Links:
This season of Live from the Boom Room has been partially funded by a generous grant from the Regional Arts Commission. Help keep Live from the Boom Room an absolutely free service for musical artists by supporting the project with your donation here: https://paypal.me/blipblap
