Robert Connely Farr & the Rebeltone Boys – Blue Front Cafe
Every song tells a story. What we have here, guys, is a track that tells a whole storybook.
Those of you how know me a bit know that I really love handmade music, and when it’s done with passion and the right instruments, I’m in love right away. This is what happened with “Blue Front Cafe”. The guys around Vancouver based Robert Connely Farr prove without a doubt that they are having music running through their veins. Being a musician myself, I know that there’s that special thing that pushes an artist over the edge of being “just” a musician who plays the notes given to him/her. It’s the blind knowledge of groove and concept, and once it’s there, everything falls in place, no matter what place, time or opportunity. In my opinion this is what happened in this track. Farr set out his vibes, and the others connected instantly.
The slow, groovy blues tune of Farr and his gang takes its time to deliver. What starts with just a guitar riff evolves in a fully fledged message done with those signature raw smokey vocals, a defensive drumset and an awesome electric piano (one of the old ones, like a Rhodes or similar). THIS is 100% handmade music, born and raised in the streets. I cannot hear that type of music on any occasion, but when I’m in the mood for it, tunes like this go on repeat for the evening. (I’m not saying that whiskey is mandatory, but… be my guest.)
Farr told me that the song is set in the Blue Front Cafe – the old juke joint run by his good friend and mentor Jimmy Duck Holmes. This, my friends, proves my point exactly. Me, the listener, FELT the meaning of the track before I even got the background information about it. I keep telling like a preacher, if the music you create really means something to you, it shows, and it instantly makes the music honest and belieavable for any audience, no matter if you’re a fourty-something slightly overweight father of two (yep. that would be me.) or a 18-year-old rebel in the making. You can’t fake this type of honesty with autotune, nor bought facebook friends or a thousand fake likes on any social media outlet. It is there, or it isn’t, simple as that.
And you gotta admit right now, it is right there in the Blue Front Cafe. (Both the song AND the place, I guess.) Boy, it really is. Too bad I can’t visit the place anytime soon. You’d see me walking in with that special grin, feeling like visiting a good friend.
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