Feature
Shawn Braley
The beautiful thing about The Tillers is their modesty. They were meant for this. Mike Oberst, the band’s leader, but also the most coy and least assertive of the bunch, explains how he randomly skimmed through a punk rock zine and came across an article about saving country music. So, it is destiny.
The aesthetic quality of a modern folk band playing traditional, Depression-era folk songs and crowding around an old-time microphone to sing is both timely and timeless. Gathering at the Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky, just across the river from the Queen City, 500 people came together to listen and remember.
This is The Tillers’ CD release show for their latest album, By the Signs, and the place is crowded. The three young gents who encompass the duties of musician for the band are Mike Oberst, Sean Geil and Jason Soudrette. We talk in a backstage area just big enough to fit the four of us into it. Sean is the more talkative of the bunch, “Yeah, we all used to play punk rock. You’ll probably see tonight that there will be a lot of punk rockers here.” Sean is expounding on the correlation people have made to them with punk rock music. “Folk music is just punk rock with louder guitars,” Jason relays with a gruff voice, fit for a Midwestern man. They were right. The place was filled with punks, hipsters, hillbillies, grandpas, grandkids, sophisticates and those to whom a label does not apply. The boys got there start in punk bands but have graduated to the more traditional music for various reasons.
The beautiful thing about The Tillers is their modesty. They were meant for this. Mike Oberst, the band’s leader, but also the most coy and least assertive of the bunch, explains how he randomly skimmed through a punk rock zine and came across an article about saving country music. So, it is destiny.
In terms of sheer talent, there are few bands that surpass The Tillers, who not only have talent but passion and tenacity. The beautiful thing is, despite folk music’s former relevance, there is a resurgence that appears timely as we are facing such hard economic times as of late. Not only that, but because of said resurgence, the music is able to appeal to a wider variety of people, those who were around during folk music’s prior heyday and those who are their grandchildren. Oberst explains, “It’s a resurgence with all age groups because folk music transcends generations. Middle age, older and young folks can all find something they like that suits them to this old type of music.”
The Tillers are fighting modern music with their transcendent “old-timey” melodies. “There’s something missing today with kids and getting to a certain age and just musically shutting down, and you pretty much won’t hear a lot of kids sing out like they might have a long time ago. They no longer take these songs, make them personal and feel free with them,” Mike expounded, “When you’re surrounded by popular music and it’s pitch corrected and their voices aren’t like that. It’s discouraging to them and they withdraw.” There’s little that is more pure than The Tillers and the way they have chosen to use their natural endowment for the authentic, traditional music that our country has thrived off of for years.
Though The Tillers play music that brings to mind activists such as Hazel Dickens, who fought for labor rights for coal minors some 40 years ago, they don’t feel it’s their place to be the most politically minded people. As Geil explicated, “We’re not activists, we’re observers.” He went on to spell out, “even if we’re not going through all that right now, with unions and such, it’s still deeply rooted in American history. The things that made the working class what it is today. People standing up for their rights and stuff like that.” Soudrette followed that up by pontificating something beautiful; “We’re against anything shitty.”
If there is one thing the band felt was passionate and worth fighting for it would be as Mr. Geil explained, “I think if there’s anything like that right now it’s the Mountain Top Removal and strip mining where they’re ripping the tops off mountains and making them look terrible.”
The Tillers aren’t just celebrating the release of an astounding new album, they recently were the recipients of a Cincinnati Entertainment Award as best Folk/Americana band for 2009. The band had such affection for the scene; it seemed of little consequence to win the award. To them, just being a part of such a great scene was the most exciting part, “What I like about the Cincinnati folk scene is it’s not competitive anymore. Everyone’s like let’s do this together and help each other out. Even a lot of the rock bands are doing a lot of shows with us and other folk bands. It’s a whole melting pot where everyone’s just coming together.” Soudrette added; “The thing about Cincinnati now is the elimination of cliques. It’s never only a certain group of people can come to our shows. Like most punk bands, if you don’t have a leather jacket with a million studs and tight jeans, you’re going to be looked at weird. We’ve played shows with dudes with two foot high Mohawks next to a guy who’s sixty five years old and they start talking and that’s the most awesome part of this.” This is a beautiful statement to which Sean added “Folk music breaks down barriers.”
“I’m a big Lady Gaga fan” Jason said jokingly after being asked what other kinds of music they enjoy, I intended to misquote him on that, but I resisted. The truth is they named off so many bands it was hard to keep up, everything from Tom Waits to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
Oberst construed about the band’s ultimate purpose, “If you’re having a shitty day and you play music and everyone out there is having a great time, it means the world. It makes you feel like, well, this is what I’m supposed to do.”
The Tillers’ “old timey” sound, as they’re known to call it, is passionate, profound and filled with the hope we once had in a simpler time, a time where people believed in the truth a song could convey.
This is The Tillers’ CD release show for their latest album, By the Signs, and the place is crowded. The three young gents who encompass the duties of musician for the band are Mike Oberst, Sean Geil and Jason Soudrette. We talk in a backstage area just big enough to fit the four of us into it. Sean is the more talkative of the bunch, “Yeah, we all used to play punk rock. You’ll probably see tonight that there will be a lot of punk rockers here.” Sean is expounding on the correlation people have made to them with punk rock music. “Folk music is just punk rock with louder guitars,” Jason relays with a gruff voice, fit for a Midwestern man. They were right. The place was filled with punks, hipsters, hillbillies, grandpas, grandkids, sophisticates and those to whom a label does not apply. The boys got there start in punk bands but have graduated to the more traditional music for various reasons.
The beautiful thing about The Tillers is their modesty. They were meant for this. Mike Oberst, the band’s leader, but also the most coy and least assertive of the bunch, explains how he randomly skimmed through a punk rock zine and came across an article about saving country music. So, it is destiny.
In terms of sheer talent, there are few bands that surpass The Tillers, who not only have talent but passion and tenacity. The beautiful thing is, despite folk music’s former relevance, there is a resurgence that appears timely as we are facing such hard economic times as of late. Not only that, but because of said resurgence, the music is able to appeal to a wider variety of people, those who were around during folk music’s prior heyday and those who are their grandchildren. Oberst explains, “It’s a resurgence with all age groups because folk music transcends generations. Middle age, older and young folks can all find something they like that suits them to this old type of music.”
The Tillers are fighting modern music with their transcendent “old-timey” melodies. “There’s something missing today with kids and getting to a certain age and just musically shutting down, and you pretty much won’t hear a lot of kids sing out like they might have a long time ago. They no longer take these songs, make them personal and feel free with them,” Mike expounded, “When you’re surrounded by popular music and it’s pitch corrected and their voices aren’t like that. It’s discouraging to them and they withdraw.” There’s little that is more pure than The Tillers and the way they have chosen to use their natural endowment for the authentic, traditional music that our country has thrived off of for years.
Though The Tillers play music that brings to mind activists such as Hazel Dickens, who fought for labor rights for coal minors some 40 years ago, they don’t feel it’s their place to be the most politically minded people. As Geil explicated, “We’re not activists, we’re observers.” He went on to spell out, “even if we’re not going through all that right now, with unions and such, it’s still deeply rooted in American history. The things that made the working class what it is today. People standing up for their rights and stuff like that.” Soudrette followed that up by pontificating something beautiful; “We’re against anything shitty.”
If there is one thing the band felt was passionate and worth fighting for it would be as Mr. Geil explained, “I think if there’s anything like that right now it’s the Mountain Top Removal and strip mining where they’re ripping the tops off mountains and making them look terrible.”
The Tillers aren’t just celebrating the release of an astounding new album, they recently were the recipients of a Cincinnati Entertainment Award as best Folk/Americana band for 2009. The band had such affection for the scene; it seemed of little consequence to win the award. To them, just being a part of such a great scene was the most exciting part, “What I like about the Cincinnati folk scene is it’s not competitive anymore. Everyone’s like let’s do this together and help each other out. Even a lot of the rock bands are doing a lot of shows with us and other folk bands. It’s a whole melting pot where everyone’s just coming together.” Soudrette added; “The thing about Cincinnati now is the elimination of cliques. It’s never only a certain group of people can come to our shows. Like most punk bands, if you don’t have a leather jacket with a million studs and tight jeans, you’re going to be looked at weird. We’ve played shows with dudes with two foot high Mohawks next to a guy who’s sixty five years old and they start talking and that’s the most awesome part of this.” This is a beautiful statement to which Sean added “Folk music breaks down barriers.”
“I’m a big Lady Gaga fan” Jason said jokingly after being asked what other kinds of music they enjoy, I intended to misquote him on that, but I resisted. The truth is they named off so many bands it was hard to keep up, everything from Tom Waits to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
Oberst construed about the band’s ultimate purpose, “If you’re having a shitty day and you play music and everyone out there is having a great time, it means the world. It makes you feel like, well, this is what I’m supposed to do.”
The Tillers’ “old timey” sound, as they’re known to call it, is passionate, profound and filled with the hope we once had in a simpler time, a time where people believed in the truth a song could convey.
Photos by Natasha Braley