I met with Old School Freight Train frontman Jesse Harper at Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar to talk a bit about his group’s first new album since 2003, aptly dubbed Six Years. An early version of the record has been sold at gigs since last fall, but the band went through a slew of changes between the album’s first incarnation and its latest.
The group nearly inked a record deal last fall, but signed up local manager Michael Allenby (formerly of Red Light Management, now the man behind The Artist Farm) and reexamined their business plan after receiving his input. The band is currently gigging at more rock clubs rather than performing arts venues, writing songs as a group rather than as individuals and, after being spread around the states, living together in Charlottesville for the first time.
All positive developments, but there’s one more big change to weather: Longtime mandolin mack daddy Pete Frostic will not tour with the band anymore (barring the occasional special appearance). Not entirely a shock: Frostic’s a new father, the band plans to tour a bit more relentlessly, and virtuosos including violinist Ann Marie Calhoun and banjo player Ben Krakauer parted ways with the band in the past. But it’s hard to imagine the Train playing "Mister Parshif’s Jig" without Frostic plucking away.
Don’t look so glum, folks. You’ll hear more from Harper on the promising new direction and new record from Old School Freight Train in next week’s C-VILLE. In the meantime, check out the band’s video for its gorgeously unsettling cover of Blondie’s "Heart of Glass."
Video by the inimitable Johnny St. Ours, whose work you may’ve caught elsewhere.