Len's Lounge embraces Americana

IF YOU GO

Len's Lounge with Leslie Woods and the Royal Bangs

WHEN: 10 tonight

WHERE: The Pilot Light, 106 E. Jackson Ave., Knoxville's Old City

HOW MUCH: $5

CALL: 524-8188

ON THE WEB: www.lenslounge.com

By Steve Wildsmith

of The Daily Times Staff

Jeff Roberson, guitarist, mandolin player and vocalist for the Cincinnati Americana outfit Len's Lounge, struggles to be heard over the background noise during a recent phone interview.

However, it wasn't the buzzing crowd of some faraway bar or the din of electric guitar from an other-side-of-the-wall recording session. It's the shriek of children.

``Hang on, I'm at a soccer game,'' the full-time dad told The Daily Times this week.

A few minutes later, away from the roar of fellow parents and the whistle of the referee, Roberson is ready to discuss his other occupation, music. He's not the prototypical singer-songwriter, but that's fitting, since Len's Lounge isn't exactly the prototypical Americana outfit.

``I guess Americana has become more of a blanket term of stuff that uses American song forms as a starting point, and really that can be anything in rock 'n' roll and folk,'' Roberson said. ``To me, it's an American song format that's decidedly not pop music. Do I like the term? Not really, but what else is out there? Alt-country, but what does that mean? I guess there's roots rock, which is fine if you're American, but if you're Jamaican, roots rock means something else entirely.

``For me, Americana starts with people who can play acoustic instruments before they can play electric ones. It's about the songs -- will it have the same earnestness and intensity on the front porch as it does played through a 1,000 watt PA? Myself, I started playing on street corners with a mandolin and a guitar myself, and later on, I knew that if I felt comfortable doing it there, I would feel comfortable doing it anywhere with any and all instruments at my disposal.

``That's what Len's Lounge has been about -- working with the songs and the musicians rather than trying to define what we want the instruments to do for us,'' he added.

What Len's Lounge delivers is a gritty, melancholy brand of Americana played by Roberson; Jen Shepherd on backing vocals and violin; Paul Cavins on bass; and Katie Monnig on drums. The songs and the intensity of the delivery cut a ragged and sometimes harrowing edge across the country, folk and rock genres.

The band took its name from a Cincinnati bar that sat beneath Ultra Suede Studios, Roberson said, a local musical landmark built in the 1980s by the college rock outfit Afghan Whigs. Soaking up the bluegrass from Kentucky, just across the Ohio River, and the influence of mountain-music migrants from Virginia and West Virginia, Len's Lounge quickly established a foundation in Appalachian music.

``I started out as a mandolin player because I love bluegrass, but when I got smoked by too many 8-year-olds I was like, `Damn, maybe I should find something else to do with my time,''' Roberson said. ``The guys around here, they're players from the get-go, and certainly that helps me appreciate being able to play well. There's a strong scene here, and people play this kind of music because they love it.''

Last year, the band released ``The Longest Night,'' which chronicles 12 years in the Len's Lounge song catalogue. The band will undoubtedly draw from that record when it performs at The Pilot Light tonight.

``We're very spontaneous, and I think we like to jam without noodling,'' Roberson said. ``We're good musicians without being flashy or wallowing in our proficiency, or lack thereof, and we don't talk a lot between sets. We just get up there and play the tunes and put it out there, and hopefully people enjoy it as much as we enjoy doing it.''