“Do you want to compare anti-social behavior?” laughs country rocker Sean Kershaw, due to appear at this week’s Brooklyn Country Music Festival.
He’s not talking about the gathering itself—boot scootin’ was never the most violent of pastimes—but simply notes how the debauchery of punk rock gets talked up a little too much.
“Frankly, a lot of the country musicians are a lot bigger badasses than the punk rockers,” he says. “People hold up Sid Vicious or Iggy Pop, but there were a lot more shenanigans going on with country musicians goin’ way back to the 1920s.”
Credibility is always subject to debate, but there won’t be much time for that during the two-day festival at Southpaw in Park Slope. The showcase, now in its fifth year, will feature 12 acts over the course of the weekend, plenty to keep even the most troublesome cowboy occupied.
Festival organizer and performer Alex Battles believes what gives the festival its Brooklyn edge is the fact that New York generally ignores country music. The city doesn’t even have a country radio station. “We’re able to create country music in a vacuum here,” he says, adding that there won’t be song requests for Keith Urban or Martina McBride, with Brooklyn’s troupes more likely to be taking cues from Ol’ Dirty Bastard, The Velvet Underground or the latest Zydeco sounds.
Performer Dock Oscar (playing with The Ambassadors of Love) reiterates the communal feel of the festival. “There’s a deep love and respect for tradition [but] you’re probably not going to get famous playing the Brooklyn Country Music Festival—it ain’t going to happen! It’s just to put on a great show, play great music, have a good time!”
He’s not talking about the gathering itself—boot scootin’ was never the most violent of pastimes—but simply notes how the debauchery of punk rock gets talked up a little too much.
“Frankly, a lot of the country musicians are a lot bigger badasses than the punk rockers,” he says. “People hold up Sid Vicious or Iggy Pop, but there were a lot more shenanigans going on with country musicians goin’ way back to the 1920s.”
Credibility is always subject to debate, but there won’t be much time for that during the two-day festival at Southpaw in Park Slope. The showcase, now in its fifth year, will feature 12 acts over the course of the weekend, plenty to keep even the most troublesome cowboy occupied.
Festival organizer and performer Alex Battles believes what gives the festival its Brooklyn edge is the fact that New York generally ignores country music. The city doesn’t even have a country radio station. “We’re able to create country music in a vacuum here,” he says, adding that there won’t be song requests for Keith Urban or Martina McBride, with Brooklyn’s troupes more likely to be taking cues from Ol’ Dirty Bastard, The Velvet Underground or the latest Zydeco sounds.
Performer Dock Oscar (playing with The Ambassadors of Love) reiterates the communal feel of the festival. “There’s a deep love and respect for tradition [but] you’re probably not going to get famous playing the Brooklyn Country Music Festival—it ain’t going to happen! It’s just to put on a great show, play great music, have a good time!”
