The Roots Folk of Mike McDermott

Seattle singer/songwriter, Mike McDermott came to his contemporary folk sound like many in the Pacific Northwest who have been steeped in the punk and grunge. “I was pretty much close to being a punk purist,” McDermott said in a phone interview this week. “There are a lot more similarities in the music than there are dissimilarities. Aside from the volume and the aggression, it’s pretty much the same stuff.”

It is true that a lot of punk and metal does have something to say that often is masked by the wall of sound, produced by screaming vocals and ear-shredding, distorted guitar.

He started playing music later than most. “I started playing bass when I was 17. I wasn’t all that young to get into the game. I was playing bass, playing mostly rock and things like that.”

But it was when he was playing in a local band that explored some roots music that McDermott decided to pick up a guitar. “I realized that you can’t be much of a songwriter or a solo performer on a bass. I’ve seen it done, but it’s not your everyday thing. I’ve only been playing guitar seriously just the last 5 or 6 years and songwriting,”

McDermott’s songs took him back to his own roots beginnings. Country legend Ernest Tubb was one of his early influences. “I think that comes from things that influenced me before I realized they influenced me. One of the earliest memories of my youth was the Grand Ole Opry. That was one of the only shows my folks used to watch regularly. Ernest Tubb was on that show just about every week. He made an impression that I didn’t realize he did until I started hearing other people commenting on Ernest Tubb. Then people like The Band and Uncle Tupelo after that were the things I really got into as a musician.”

His new album, “Silverhands,” is a remarkable work, full of songs about quirky relationships. McDermott’s delivery is raw and earthy, much like John Prine’s or Loudon Wainwright’s. Though on his album, he’s assisted by several guests, McDermott’s signature is all over it. There are a couple of country answer songs between a man and a woman that were really popular back in the sixties by people like George Jones and Tammy Wynette and even Johnny and June Carter. McDermott is joined Joy Mills who does the responses. “It’s just a song where I had the whole song mapped out, and I knew that there were very distinct parts that just had to be in two different voices. There was no way I could do the delivery on the other voice because that voice was supposed to be talking to me,” said McDermott.

On “Cornbread,” he is joined by the Pennylifters, a group he sings with in Seattle. “They are the lead guitar and the harp and the two guys singing with me,” McDermott said. ” We do three-piece old time country harmonies.” When he gigs with these guys, he gets to explore harmony more. “That’s where we get to play all the songs that we already know. They’re great voices. It’s just a great place to get ideas out, get new ideas just vocally, harmony. I’m the new guy as far as singing with those three guys. One of them has been trained in Barbershop, and the other has been trained classically. They’ve got all of the harmony ideas and I get to learn a lot from them.”

McDermott also plays bass with Seattle singer/songwriter Michael Vermillion “He’s got a great band so it’s a lot of fun just playing the bass there,” McDermott said. “I think no matter what I’m doing I’ll always be playing bass with somebody…It’s when I have the most fun without any thinking or stress.”

So what can Fargo music fans expect from McDermott’s solo appearance? “I don’t do any fancy guitar tricks or anything. It’s just pretty much me just telling a story because I’m not a hot picker like some of these folks that can really tear it up on the guitar. I just hope to have the energy in the story to propel it along.

If you go, ask him to sing “The Talking Jesus H. Christ Blues.”

If You Go

WHO: Mike McDermott
WHERE: Red Raven, 14 Roberts St N
WHEN: April 20, 8pm
INFO: (701) 478-7337