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Last of the Blacksmiths - And Then Some
LISTEN: And Then Some You Think I'm Okay BUY:
And Then Some 45 rpm vinyl single
(includes shipping) $8 - INTERNATIONAL (includes shipping) 
And Then Some CD-single $6 - DOMESTIC & INTERNATIONAL(includes shipping) RECORD STORES: Please contact us for wholesale prices.
And Then Some
Last of the Blacksmiths
Description: Vanguard Squad is proud to offer the newest release from Last of the Blacksmiths, And Then Some. Two years after their first recorded effort, an eponymous self-released album, this two-song single finds the band continuing in their way. The songs were recorded live in the studio with no overdubs, perfectly capturing what the band does best: playing together as a group, captivated, feeding off of each other's emotions. The first song, “And Then Some,” is the fourth in an ongoing series of Blacksmith songs that were originally penned as poems by Rufus Wanta, grandfather of one of the Blacksmiths’ singers, Nathan Wanta. Some 40 years after their creation, Nathan borrowed the collection of poems from his grandfather, and, thumbing through the pages, waited for the right poems to present themselves to him. Nathan’s technique in divining the words into song is simple: he reads them, and if a melody forms in his head while reading, he knows it is right. With Nathan’s sketch of the tune, the Blacksmiths then craft a beautiful song around Rufe’s poem. This song has the unique trait of being written in a different era, about different circumstances, yet remaining pertinent to this era. By turning Rufe’s poems into songs, the Blacksmiths are not only preserving the stories of their forefathers (literally), but they are contributing to the tradition of folk music; handing down tales across the generations. The second song, “You Think I’m Okay,” is a song so personal it’s better presented as a sound recording than as it was written, a note scribbled during a difficult moment. Whatever the personal thoughts of Nigel Pavao, the Blacksmith who wrote the song, the public experience we have when listening to such an admission gives us hope. With the refrain, I’ve been wasting away/ and you think I’m okay/ but you don’t know a thing, it’s easy to mistake this for a sad song. Too often, songs have too strong a desire to haunt us. “You Think I’m Okay” may lack today’s strategies for making a “sad song” -- its words don’t always rhyme, it’s lyrics are completely straightforward, and Nigel and Nathan’s vocal harmonies are contrapuntal -- but it has everything that a song needs to be perfect. It is unique to a moment, personal without being abstruse, and has enough to rip your heart out of your chest but not too much as to make you notice the vacancy (now that’s haunting). Most sad songs go wrong in that they stop at being sad. A song like this, a song with a great arch of hope, takes someone earnest enough not to disguise his vulnerability in pageantry. This is a “hope song” born of sadness. The Last of the Blacksmiths are currently recording their second full-length album, due near the end of the year. They play regularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and tour as time and schedules permit.
Giving it all I have... and then some,
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