Indie Folk Comes to Narragansett

Rhode Island is starting to see a new movement of traditional folk, from Joe Fletcher and the Wrong Reasons, to the indie folk sounds of South County’s own Andrew Spatz.

Spatz bought his indie folk to a crowded Mariner Grille Friday night.

A resident of Wakefield, he has been playing for seven years. He describes his music as “acoustic rock music with electric soul.” Electric soul indeed, as for Spatz, songs are soulful and as powerful as an electric shock.

Spatz usually plays the Mews Tavern, and he hopes to get more gigs outside of South County and be part of the music scene statewide. Judging from his performance, he should have nothing to worry about expanding his horizons.

He has a full-length album out called Real Time, which received a decent write up in The Boston Phoenix in 2006. 

His performance is intimate and outstanding. Spatz performs a mixture of covers that include influences such as Neil Young, and he is adding more of his original works to his set. On Friday, he performed several of his original songs in public for the first time and they went over well.

He covered Elliot Smith’s “Twilight,” in which you can also hear an Andrew Bird influence in Spatz’s style of music.

He covered Led Zeppelin’s “Tangerine,” which sounds more like the Thermals cover than the Led Zeppelin song. The Thermals approach to the song is lo key and really good, like Spatz’s cover. 

Spatz also covered “The Crystal Ship” by The Doors. As haunting as Jim Morrison’s vocals are, Spartz’s vocals are similar at times and nailed it with perfection. 

Like most musicians, Spatz is self-conscious regarding his act, yet he shouldn’t be. His original songs are soulful and moving. He has demos he says he will never put out, because he believes they will never be good enough. 

This is where I asked myself, how many amazing unknown musicians, artists and writers left their work on the shelves? What if shy and modest indie folk legends like the late great Elliott Smith decided none of his work was good enough, or Cat Stevens?

Spatz is a talented musician, and should go easy on himself, because if he doesn’t the local music scene is fully missing out on a wonderful musician. 

Whether private or public events, Spatz is available for booking. He plays songs from well-known artists and his own work. For you indie folk fans, he may play you a Great Lake Swimmers or Elliott Smith song if you ask him.

He is worth seeing for his original songs alone though. He will be playing Thursday, June 2nd in Westerly at The Bridge. He is also playing Narragansett tomorrow at Perry’s Bar and Grill.

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