THE KROTOPKINS
ABOUT
The Kropotkins were founded by drummer Jonathan Kane and violinist/banjo player Dave Soldier in NYC in 1992 after they heard Mississippi fife-and-drum music and flipped out. We asked what rock'n ' roll would sound like if it went down those rural routes? Sid Hemphill showed you could mix the bass and snare drum with the banjo, fiddle, guitar, and vocals. Everything can be played without electronics at a barbecue. We asked our favorite musicians on their respective instruments: singer Lorette Velvette from Memphis, violinist Charlie Burnham, guitarist Dog (Mark Deffenbaugh), and drummer Alex Greene, also from Memphis. It's a great group. We have a great time playing, but farming for Alex and Lorette, as well as distance, work, and families keep us from performing as much as we'd like. Over nearly 20 years, we have had three CDs, the newest of which is called Paradise Square (Mulatta Records), and we hope to record some new music next year in New Orleans.
Lorette Velvette (Hellcats, Tav Falco, recorded w. Sonic Youth, Jessie Mae Hemphill) vocals, guitar
Charlie Burnham (Cassandra Wilson, James Blood Ulmer, Henry Threadgill), violin
Dave Soldier (Thai Elephant Orchestra, Soldier String Quartet, John Cale, Bo Diddley), banjo & violin
Dog (Mark Deffenbaugh) (John Cale, Souxie & the Banshees), guitar
Alex Greene (Iggy Pop, Jim Dickinson, Reigning Sound), keyboards
Jonathan Kane (February, Rhys Chatham, LaMonte Young, Swans), snare drum
Ron Franklin, jack of all trades
HISTORY
In 1992, I was on a tour with John Cale and Bob Neuwirth, with John on a Bösendorfer piano, the Soldier String Quartet, the British pedal steel player BJ Cole, and singers Tiye' Giraud and Sam Butler. We traveled in two enormous tour buses full of equipment and required many hours a day to set up. One day, waiting for soundcheck in Stuttgart, I heard a Japanese bluegrass band playing Bill Monroe on the street. It took them a minute to set up, and they could play anywhere. Monroe's music was transcendent, many years after he created it, and in a foreign country, played by unexpected musicians.
Bill Monroe's music, along with Howlin' Wolf, hearing unreleased North Mississippi tapes by Alan Lomax at the Smithsonian, and cassettes of Junior Kimbrough, RL Burnside, and Othar Turner that the writer Robert Palmer had given me, inspired the Kropotkins.
I called up my favorite musician for each part. Locating Lorette Velvette was an adventure, the only player in the group I didn't really know and had only met once when she opened for Othar Turner in 1992 at the Bank on Houston Street - I thought I was hallucinating. I tracked her down in Memphis when the Cale and my String Quartet group performed at the 25th anniversary of Elvis's death. From the Cale entourage, we invited the great Mo Tucker to play. And my favorite violinists, Charlie Burnham and Mark Feldman, my favorite slide guitarist, Dog (Mark Deffenbaugh), and percussionist Samm Bennett. Mo Tucker performed with us from 1998 to 2002 and wrote some great material on Truckstop Girls.
It's a great group. We have a great time playing, but farming for Alex and Lorette, as well as work and families, keep us from performing as much as we'd like. Also, Alex, Lorette, and Ron live in Memphis, and Charlie, Dog, Dave, and Jonathan live in New York.
We've played memorable concerts at the Bottom Line, Knitting Factory, Tonic, Joe's Pub, Poisson Rouge, Issue Project Room, and the Blues in Roots Festival in the mountains of British Columbia.