Sittin’ Down with Sully – Barefoot Truth

Saturday April 17^th I rounded up Nicole and we headed down to The Wheel House in Narragansett to catch the final show of Barefoot Truth’s CD Release tour for Threads. Getting there plenty early I had time to ask the gents a few questions before their set. Being the second “Sittin’ Down with Sully” feature, I’ve come to the harsh understanding that my interview sound capture is a bit lack luster, working on it, but for now I’ll detail some of the answers after the video, in case you couldn’t make them out:

Alright, I know we were standing and all, but I just like the ring of Sittin’ Down with Sully!  If you haven’t heard “Threads”  yet it is decidedly jazzier than BFT’s previous albums, which was attributed to the larger influence John “Wayno” Waynelovich (keys) and Andy “Wolfman” Wrba (primarily bass, sometimes guitar), “The Jazz Cats,” had during the songwriting process this time around. Jay “Big John” Driscoll took the lead roll in the interview, which worked out great with his proximity to the camera and volume of voice, and cited that each song of Barefoot Truth’s was written a bit differently. As I suspected their songs are as varied as their sound, some songs written all together with ideas bounced between all members of the band, others are penned lyrically by Will Evans, but overall, the music is a grand collaborative effort, which explains the musical tightness in each of their tracks. Their band site states Mystic, CT as the band’s location, but orignally members come from all over. Garrett hails originally from Homer, Alaska, and is the only non New England native of the bunch, Wayno, Andy and Big John all hail from Massachusetts, Terrace Falls, Pittsfield and South Hadley, respectively and Will rounds out the bunch calling Shelby Vermont his hometown. One of my favorite questions to ask a touring band is what are the hot spots they like to play and why. The Wheel House got a big plug, as did their chowder (which was plugged more than their album!) the interview and show was located there and has become their standard Rhode Island stop. Their other favorite stops tended to be in and around their hometowns, like The Iron Horse and Pearl Street in Northampton, and The Higher Ground in Burlington. Mentioning New York, Boston and Washington DC as cities in which they enjoy playing, but didn’t mention specific venues, so if you know any great spots to play in the aforementioned cities, by all means, let the men know where you’d like to see them play! They’ll be touring with “Threads” for the foreseeable future, but their songs tend towards being road tested, so I’m sure as they write more, they’ll be more surprises on the road when catching their live sets.

I used “Momma’s Minstrel” as the backing track to the interview, while it remains one of my favorite BFT songs, it was due mainly to the priceless band introduction at the beginning, and is featured both on their 2007 full length release “Walk Softly” and their 2009 joint EP with Pete Francis “Wake the Mountain”. Below is a playlist of all the songs I had the chance to capture during their set at The Wheel House, hope you enjoy: