New York City grassers Cole Quest and The City Pickers have released a clever animated music video for the second single from their upcoming EP, Self [En]Titled.
Cole has an interesting lineage for a singer and songwriter. He is the grandson of folk legend Woody Guthrie, and shows a touch of his patriarch in the lyrics to this new single. Playing reso-guitar and singing harmony, his City Pickers include Christian Apuzzo on guitar and lead vocal, Matheus Verardino on harmonica, Mike Mulhollan on banjo, and Larry Cook on bass.
The song is Bitcoin Gambler, which Quest wrote about the cryptocurrency craze, which he says draws from his own experiences trying to cash in, along with some Trump references that may feel a bit stale at this point.
“As a software engineer by day, a folk musician by night, and someone who lost money in the Bitcoin crash of 2018, I felt I had a unique connection to this modern-day dilemma. First came the melody line written on guitar, and the rest of the song wrote itself in a matter of minutes. As the band laid down the tracks, I fell in love with the ending of the recording. You can hear how each musician found their own, wonderfully unique, voicing to this melody. As I was writing the song, I found myself reflecting on things that are important. Surely, losing a few dollars wasn’t worth focusing on in contrast to the problems created by an ill-equipped fool in the white house.”
The video was created by animator Megan O’Neill, which perfectly captures the feel of Quest’s grassed up talking blues.
Self [En]Titled is due on April 16 from Omnivore Recordings.
