Based in Humboldt County, California, Virgil Shaw started out as part of frantic surf-meets-garage rock band Brent’s T.V. in the early nineties before heading to San Francisco to form Dieselhed. The latter, who put out albums via Bong Load Records, swapped out the hectic speed of Brent’s T.V. in favour of a vivid amalgamation of country and classic rock, and when Shaw set out solo in the 2000s, he continued in this direction. With a compassionate tone and keen eye for detail, albums like Quad Cities and Still Falling earned comparisons to the likes of Gram Parsons, and established Shaw as a songwriter capable of painting life in all of its ambiguous intricacy.
This autumn sees Virgil Shaw return with At the Time I Didn’t Care, a brand new album on Rocks in Your Head Records (the label run by Sonny Smith of Sonny & the Sunsets). With Henry Nagle (guitar/petal steel), Rusty Miller (drums/guitar/bass), Atom Ellis (vocals/bass), Danny Heifetz (vibraphones) and Whitney Shaw (vocals) lending their talents, the record finds Shaw at the height of his powers. Affectionate and tender-hearted yet shot through with a cutting seam of wry humour.
Take new single ‘New Mid County Fair’, a song built around a perky, toe-tapping rhythm which charges the sound with something between fondness and playful wit. Shaw’s lyrics might at first seem to stand in opposition to this tempo. “Through the piss and the rain,” goes the opening line, “through the shit and the stain / through the darkness that has no name.” Though it is soon apparent that the deprecatory tone is part of the charm, a dryness that only compliments the sincerity of the sound.
At the Time I Didn’t Care is out on the 22nd October via Rocks In Your Head Records and you can pre-order it now via the Virgil Shaw Bandcamp page.
