Eric Sommer and The Fabulous Piedmonts are Eric Sommer (guitar-vocals); Jimmy “Four Fingers” Hauer (stand-up bass, Stingray electric); and Amanda Sycamore (percussion). They’re a roots-rock powder keg wrapped around a burrowing bass clef., a unique musical force.
Eric Sommer is the writer, lead singer and guitar player for this standout collection of musical souls. His credits are strong and diverse, starting in Boston opening for Little Feat tours. Sommer also shared bills with David Bromberg, John Hammond Jr. and Leon Redbone; then fronted gene-bending power trio The Atomics, who toured for several years with Mission of Burma, Gang of Four, Dead Kennedys and Bugsy Low-Low, which subsequently led him to London.
Sommer then moved to Aarhus, Denmark, playing with Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds for two years off and on while picking up acoustic tours in Germany, Denmark, and Holland. Sommer has recorded five albums — one with The Atomics, and with Brooklyn Bolero Producers at Room 13 in Brooklyn. Numerous singles followed; the output will soon be enhanced with a new release by The Piedmonts. Sommer has developed a unique acoustic style that combines picking grooves reminiscent of Steve Howe and Doc Watson with his tour-mates from The Atomics’ influences, which include The Cars and a bit of ZZ Top; and country pop-styled songs of Hank Williams channeled through a little Shania Twain, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Black Crowes.
Sommer (ES) took some time recently to do a 5 Quick Questions interview with Blues-E-News (BEN), here’s how it went.
BEN: What would you say are some of the main factors that set Eric Sommer and the Fabulous Piedmonts from other roots-rock acts?
ES: That’s an excellent question! We have the traditional three-part vocal harmonies, super tight arrangements and integrated musical arrangements, but here’s what’s different: on top of that we put a classically trained symphony percussionist – and all that implies – to add a level of beat improvisation that is breathtaking; Amanda Sycamore adds symphonic timing, orchestral swells and a sense of timing and complexity that hits the traditional Americana listener like the hot kiss at the end of a wet fist! It’s a remarkable integration.Then we add a bass line – a lower-register cavalcade of notes that may reach 95 octaves below absolute “C”, and enhance that with bow, thumb toms, spin-n-whistle drops and voice and inner-voice leading right out of the Paul Chambers or Jack Six or Ron Carter. This approach removes it from the root-5th guardrail that seems to permeate the genre.
Jimmy “Four Fingers” Hauer isn’t having any of that “root-5th” stuff! He is a double-bass experimenter, and he transfers his remarkable catalog of thumpin’ and’ pumpin’ bass grooves down the rabbit hole and out thru the looking glass to give the Piedmonts’ “sound” such a uniqueness and easily recognizable soundscape… The Piedmonts pull from the jazz world and the Classical world… and then add the explosive acoustic guitar style of Eric Sommer and the entire sound wall moves en-mass down the groove-pike and into a world of improvisational Americana at once distinctly ours. Remarkable to say the least. We’ve worked hard at creating something a little off to the side, just around the corner and slightly out of focus from the Americana Mainstream.
BEN: Talk a bit about the value of promoting your live shows, and how that’s helped your group in the past, and going forward in the future?
ES: We are tireless promoters. Not only of our work, but of anyone on the bill with us. This isn’t a competition – it’s a celebration of all the players who have touched each of us, and whose careers we watch and promote when possible.The amount of junk in the stream makes us wary of ceaseless self-promotion, and that colors our efforts. We are judicious with our communications, but we are also out there steadily trying to give our fan base stuff that’s relevant and meaningful. The thing that’s been so helpful for us has been the live shows we do every Thursday in Hillsborough at The Hot Tin Roof!
And we do a lot of radio, local and national, and that has proven helpful. At the end of the day, it’s the music we make as a thinking, collaborative and thoughtful ensemble that builds our fan base and strategy of expanding concentric circles seems to be working.
BEN: How has the live music scene in the Carolinas changes/evolved in the last few years?
ES: The last show I did before the Chinese Virus hit the USA was on February 28, 2020 in Chapel Hill/Carrboro at The Station. I had two hundred and eighty shows lined up for 2020, but by March 3, fifteen percent had put those shows on hold, by March 11, seventy five per cent of the shows were on hold. By March 17, every show booked had been postponed, then rescheduled… and then cancelled.
In that time frame – from February 2020 up until then till about six months ago, live music didn’t happen on a regular basis anywhere; sure there were a few house shows, some sporadic live shows and some extended trips up the East Coast, but for the most part the touring life I had before had vanished, to be replaced with… silence! during this downtime, venues looked inward, many closed, many changed focus to stay alive, and with that the live music scene adjusted itself as it has done for the past seventy five years, re-evaluating itself, and so did the musicians — thinking about new ways to collaborate, how to market and make a living in the music environment as it currently exists.
The bottom line is that things are slowly getting stronger and more and more festivals, venues and live music joints are coming back on-line, things are getting back to normal, and the pace is quickening.
BEN: Any new recordings to discuss?
ES: I thought you’d never ask! We were in the studio recently and worked on a six-song sampler for distribution to the industry and to be used for both promotional purposes and show support.
These songs are all arranged by “Eric Sommer and The Fabulous Piedmonts” and are a unique showcase for the remarkable talents of the trio. The titles are ‘Red Dress,’ ‘Redneck Parking Lot,’ ‘Doin’ Wrong,’ ‘White Knuckle Girl,’ ‘Socks & Shoes’ and ‘High Cost of Living.’
BEN: Taking The Fabulous Piedmonts on the road this Summer as you are, what are some of the musical surprises you have in store for audiences around the US?
ES: This will be a combination of a well-rehearsed and highly-polished stage show which may include a bit of Motown Choreography, and three-part harmonies with harmonica-based spoken word. There will be some unique twists and turns as we polish and refine the set list, but it will include all the fan favorites as well as a number of acoustic songs re-worked into a full band soundscape. The thing to do is to catch this band live! The schedule is at http://www.ericsommer.com/tour.
Thank you, and see you out there!
