May 18, 2023

Episode 135 - Harmonizing History: A Chat with the Band Goodnight, Texas

Episode 135 - Harmonizing History: A Chat with the Band Goodnight, Texas

In this episode Jennie and Dianne journey through the intertwining worlds of music, storytelling, history, and cemeteries. This week the ladies are joined by musicians Patrick Dyer Wolf and Avi Vinocur from folk rock band Goodnight, Texas. Together they explore the connection between music and storytelling, discussing how the melodies and lyrics of many of their songs serve as vessels for untold tales, even those rooted in the history of cemeteries. Listen along on this captivating voyage through the Ordinary Extraordinary world of songwriting, storytelling, history, and of course cemeteries.

For tour dates, band merchandise, and all things Goodnight, Texas visit their website:
https://hiwearegoodnighttexashowareyou.com/

Goodnight, TexasProfile Photo

Goodnight, Texas

Musicians

Conventional wisdom says the two frontmen of a band shouldn’t live on opposite sides of the United States, but that's never seemed to deter Avi Vinocur and Patrick Dyer Wolf.

Goodnight, Texas is a tough-to-define storytelling folk rock band whose strength lies in unexpected sweet spots. Drawing their name from Pat and Avi’s onetime geographic midpoint (the real town of Goodnight in the State of Texas, a tiny hamlet east of Amarillo directly betwixt San Francisco, CA and Chapel Hill, NC), the five-piece band also exists at the center of its songwriters’ contrasting styles — via a 1913 Gibson A mandolin and a 2015 Danelectro Baritone Guitar, at the crossroads of folk and blues and rock ‘n’ roll, in a place where dry wit and dark truths meet hope and utmost sincerity.

The very top of 2022 brings the band’s highly anticipated fourth album ‘How Long Will It Take Them To Die’, a dark yet lighthearted shoebox of knick-knacks and newspaper clippings - perhaps reflecting on either the last two years of isolation, or the whole of American history. In true Goodnight, Texas fashion, complex but relatable characters and locations are still featured alongside stories of self-discovery, rowdy behavior and heartbreaking loss, but with a more honed sound. Thanks in part to the creative and performative talents of the permanent lineup Scott Padden (drums, upright bass), Adam Nash (lead guitar, pedal steel, violin) and Chris Sugiura (bass), we hear Goodnight, Texas in a more detailed and developed way. Where past Goodnight, Texas albums have traveled cross-country and… Read More