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Rolling Hayseeds members (L to R): Rich Kaufmann, Mike Frank, Kevin Karg. Portraits: Dominic Episcopo; Stylist: Teri-Lyn-Pugliese |
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Rich Kaufmann's tick-tock guitar strum and cry-in-your-beer vocal sound like they were born out of a youth spent in Nashville watering holes. Guitarist/vocalist Kevin Karg looks like the kind of guy who's spent half his life driving an 18-wheeler across the heartland, hooting along with Waylon Jennings songs. His bushy goatee and big-rig bellow suggest a young and hip Grizzly Adams. But don't always judge a cowboy by his stage show. When I catch up with Karg a few days later at Silk City Diner, he's discussing the essays of French philosopher Roland Barthes over key lime pie. He doesn't drive a semi for a living, but oversees resident assistants at the University of Pennsylvania. And when you get him talking about country music, expect a little bit of his own musical philosophy. "There are five schools of country music," he reckons. "Ha-ha country, folk country, pop country, hard country and Replacements country." Karg's twangy six-piece - co-founded with guitarist/vocalist Rich Kaufmann in 1990 - takes most of its influence from the last three subgenres. "Hard" country artists like Hank Williams and George Jones can be found easily in Kaufmann's sigh-along songs. Yet, old-school country is only one slice of the Hayseed pie, so to speak. If you ask Karg what his favorite song is, he'll say the Orleans' pop-country hit "Still the One." "That tune has everything," he gushes, "great hooks, a gospel breakdown and double guitar leads." Embarrassed, at first, to acknowledge his taste for such musical confection, he notes that when you scrape beneath the surface of the Hayseeds - beyond Mark Tucker's weepy lap steel and Dorothea Haug's apple-pie harmonies - they're basically a pop band with rock roots. That's where Replacements country comes into the mix. The generation of songwriters who were influenced by that honky-tonk punk band tend to write country tunes with a raucous sensibility. "Punk and country songs both tend to be made of three chords and the vocalist usually wears their heart on their sleeve," notes Kaufmann, whose wounded heart makes for plenty of mopey material. When the Hayseeds first started, Karg and Kaufmann envisioned a country band that would take punk-rock stages by storm and would shock shoegazing audiences with polished performances. "It was kind of a reaction to the whole flannel scene," explains Kaufmann, who first made a name for himself playing with the Electric Love Muffin. Then the Hayseeds went through a lineup change after the first rhythm section dropped out. They were replaced by bassist Mike Frank and drummer Jon Kelsey. When Tucker and Haug joined the ranks, the Hayseeds' sound became more traditional. But the debut album that was released last fall, Tangled Up In You (Record Cellar), was recorded over the years when the group was still suffering from changes in the personnel. That record's mixed results don't give justice to the current Hayseeds lineup. Many of the tunes on Tangled Up In You are now several years old and the band has improved its songwriting and arranging since laying them down. The Hayseeds' live show is first-rate. Not only do they always seem to be having a helluva time whenever they're onstage, yucking it up like old cowpokes around a campfire, but frontman Kaufmann also knows how to look the part with an impressive array of cowboy shirts. "Cowboy shirts look cool the same way polyester '70s shirts look cool," he says, adding that he's not obsessed with cowpoke culture. Though he does have a soft-spot for cowboy boots: "There's something about their design that just makes you want to tap your toe." The guitarist also knows the impression a beautiful six-string can make on a crowd. His cherry-red Gibson J-180 is a model originally designed for the Everly Brothers. Its oversized black pickguards and mother-of-pearl stars arguably make it the most striking guitar in Philadelphia. Karg makes a point of saying that he has no desire to ride a mechanical bull, nor does he have interest in any other urban cowboy trappings. "The urban cowboy thing was so absurd and overdone when we were kids that I think everybody is still repulsed by it. Even now our modern cowboy is living in a post-urban cowboy era and most of us are just trying to make sure that the phenomenon doesn't happen again." People who are into cowboy fashion these days usually go for the vintage look of the '40s and '50s. Karg admits his double extra-large frame doesn't make it very easy to shop in vintage stores: "When I dress country, I usually end up with the new, cheesy cowboy wear." Now for the $64,000 question: deep down, do these crooners really want to be cowboys? Kaufmann shrugs off the question while Karg takes it a little more seriously: "I'm really concerned what people think about me and I don't think cowboys care about what people think of them… I'm basically insecure, I think a real cowboy would just flick me off his shoulder." An old ranch hand might flick Karg off, but no country-loving cowboy would dismiss The Rolling Hayseeds. |
