I almost ran my car off the road when I happened upon the tail end of this radio piece from NPR's venerable newsmagazine "All Things Considered" about, of all things, the Holy Modal Rounders! What's the occasion for dedicating drivetime to grubby Sixties drug-folkies? Sadly there is no new album to promote (the members are not on speaking terms), but there is a new documentary about them in the offing, titled (after one of their better songs) Bound To Lose. The Holy Modal Rounders, the duo of Pete Stampfel and Chris Weber, along with whatever hired guns they could dupe into helping them out, were like the anti-Peter Paul and Mary. 

Scruffy, drinkin', druggin', and bizarrely well versed in traditional forms of American music (blues, folk, country), and full of a healthy disregard for the sacred cows of both the "squares" and the "counterculture," the Rounders were destined to be like the Monks, the Fugs, Captain Beefheart, and all of those Nuggets bands; trailblazers who paved the way for most good outsider music today, but never saw a dime in their prime. Their music more than stands on its own now, especially considering how many of the Rounders' spiritual descendents—Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Espers, Vetiver, Animal Collective—are this close to the mainstream these days.

Perhaps "freak folk" would be a good idea for a future column? (That's probably a rhetorical question.)

Listen to the NPR story here.

Watch the Bound To Lose trailer below: