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Jun 14, 2023 By Mark Moody

Though there is nothing overtly patriotic about the six late ’80s/early ’90s albums of Chicago’s Souled American, the band’s remaining members—Joe Adducci and Chris Grigoroff—chose 2023’s Flag Day to re-release their back catalog via Bandcamp.

The band’s first four albums (Fe, Flubber, Around the Horn, Sonny) were released via Rough Trade from 1988 to 1992. Their two subsequent albums (Frozen, Notes Campfire) were released via the tiny German label Moll Tonträger in 1994 and 1996, respectively. The first four albums were later compiled in 1999 via the Framed box set on San Francisco’s now defunct tUMULt label. Thus, the current release on Bandcamp marks the first time this century and in nearly 25 years that the band’s catalog has been available. And arguably for the first time “readily” available. Stream all the albums below, along with two previously unreleased tracks.

Formed outside of Chicago in Normal, Illinois, the remaining duo of Adducci (bass, vocals) and Grigoroff (guitar, vocals) were originally joined by Scott Tuma (guitar) and Jamey Barnard (drums). Barnard departed mid-catalog and Tuma subsequent to the final album. The band’s debut, Fe (short for feel), pre-dated Uncle Tupelo’s debut by a couple of years, though the latter band’s first album is widely credited with launching the alt-country movement. Fe’s sepia toned album art, elongated twangs, and Adducci and Grigoroff’s collective yawps, give the album an unmistakably rural sound. Covers of ancient folk songs like “Soldier’s Joy” and “Fisher’s Hornpipe” only served to cement a path back to Harry Smith’s Smithsonian folk anthology or Alan Lomax’s field recordings. Centered by the band’s liveliest song, “Magic Bullets,” the band’s further releases continued to slow their pace even further.

It’s a testament to the band’s compositional skills that their originals stand shoulder to shoulder with a myriad of choice covers over their span of work. Barring one original, Sonny is essentially a covers album, but plenty of others abound on their other releases. John Prine’s super slowed down “The Torch Singer” is barely recognizable on the expertly titled Flubber (as flubbery as freshly laid asphalt in a sub-zero Chicago winter), but the elegant Around the Horn includes a beautiful cover of Little Feat’s “Six Feet of Snow.” And the band also included numerous instrumental only tracks—from the characteristic sound of Around the Horn’s “Luggy Di” to the delicacy of the previously mentioned “Fisher’s Hornpipe.”

Though the latter half of the band’s catalog was devoid of Barnard’s contributions, their patented sound remained. The beautiful opener of Notes Campfire (whose album title was borrowed from Fe’s opening track), “Before Tonight” shows Adducci and Grigoroff’s rough cut harmonies at their tear-jerkingly loveliest. Aside from a couple of stray singles over the years, in hindsight, Notes Campfire has an elegiac feel in tribute to a band that was nearly lost to the mists of time and local lore.

Per the band’s press release announcing these reissues (all mastered or re-mastered at the hands of Ken Love), Adducci and Grigoroff are at work on the band’s seventh album, which has been a thing of rumor over the past few decades. Regardless, the reissue of the band’s original six albums warrants a flag waving celebration of its own accord. And is truly on par with David Berman’s Silver Jews’ catalog coming available to streaming platforms in the spring of 2018. The six albums (and a T-shirt) are available via purchase on Bandcamp here. Plans for vinyl and other physical formats are in the works, but as with all things Souled American it may be a slow roll to get there. In the meantime, it’s welcome to have the band and their work back in the world.

www.souledamerican.bandcamp.com

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