East Cameron Folkcore: “Hollow Men”
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It really does take a village, or at least a northeast Austin neighborhood, to build a band. The ten (sometimes more)-piece folk-rock collective East Cameron Folkcore is proof. Pieced together out of a wide palette of talent from the neighborhood of the same name, East Cameron Folkcore creates its own brand of big, cathartic, rock-inflected folk music.
The story of East Cameron Folkcore begins with a heartbreaking ending. The group’s leader Jesse Moore was in the band Bankrupt And The Borrowers, an Austin four-piece that was gaining traction in Austin with rootsy, boozy rock until a tragic October 2009 fire killed band co-founder Jon Pettis. Moore and other members of the East Cameron scene weren’t sure if they could go on, but convinced that that’s what Pettis would have wanted, they forged ahead, including a 2009 Bankrupt And The Borrowers Fun Fun Fun Fest performance that became a heart-wrenching tribute to Pettis and featured an early incarnation of what would become East Cameron Folkcore. Moore had already been playing with members of the group as a side-project, but after Bankrupt And The Borrowers fell apart after Pettis’s death, the nascent band came into single focus. Almost constant gigging and energetic live performances have earned East Cameron Folkcore a treasured spot on the Austin scene.
In April of last year, East Cameron Folkcore released its debut full-length, Sound and Fury. Featuring horns, strings and multiple vocalists, it has the loose feeling of a jam session, albeit one with seasoned players. Conceived, in part, as a tribute to Pettis, the record is nakedly honest. Songs like “Happy-Mess,” “Birds Across A Wire,” and today’s song of the day “Hollow Men” are incredibly moving. Some friends may be gone, but there’s still a whole community to carry on the spirit.
You can see East Cameron Folkcore this Thursday for a Free Week performance at Red7.
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