See: Thomas Dollbaum arrives fully formed with the Carveresque folk-blues of ‘Florida’

BORN and brought up in somewhere he notes as being Nowhere, Florida – trouble is indeed, a lonesome town – and currently using the musculature god blessed him with as a construction worker in New Orleans, Thomas Dollbaum has brought his sights to bear upon the world of music with an absolute heart-wrencher of a debut single, a paean to the the Sunshine State entitled simply, “Florida”.

He’s signed papers with Big Legal Mess Records, the Fat Possum imprint, who will, no doubt, be bringing us more missives from Thomas as the new year bounces from its burrow; but hellfire, listen to what we have in front of us here, leave next year for another day.

“Florida” is a freewheelin’ blues-folk odyssey, bringing to mind Songs: Ohia, Damien Jurado, John Murry – he’s parachuted in, a talent fully formed and ready, with cracking couplets such as “Nothing good comes from Florida / Including you”; and super-atmospheric, descriptive, Carveresque lines like “Well your friends are getting married ready to have their kids and you’re still out here bringing bum wine home”.

He also comes with a master’s degree in poetry, so be thinking a Breeze D’J Pancake of song; someone who sees what’s really going on in the raggedy-ass motels and bars and fading businesses out in the strip malls at dusk.

He says of the song: “I grew up outside Tampa, Florida and before I had a car, I would take the bus into town and walk through the city to get to my friend’s neighborhood from downtown.

“’Florida’ is about the people I knew who were down and out where I’m from; it’s about getting into trouble, hanging out with strangers, and how a place can mold you into who you are even as you are wishing you could do something or be somewhere else.”

Amen. And Thomas completely joins Alyssa Gengos and Raveloe in our humbly offered absolute tips for AD 2022.

Connect with Thomas Dollbaum on Instagram and his label, Big Legal Mess Records at his official website, on Bandcamp, and on Facebook and Instagram.