Reciprocity: A soundtrack!

Writing Reciprocity was a little hard.

There's the standard 'wah way I am too busy to do writing' whining, because, well, I kind of suck. However, more accurately, and more interestingly is the SECOND reason. See, one of the major inspirations for this story was the concept of Applejack & Rarity attending a right proper hootenanny, and thus I made it a point to listen to appropriate music as 'inspiration,' and said music really does demand the proper beverage to really appreciate it, and hold on guys I need to grab another beer real quick.

See, one of my favorite things to do is to see live music. Live country music, even. But not the sort of country one tends to hear on the radio. Rather, obscure, indie country/bluegrass/what have you that owes just as much to Joe Strummer as it does Johnny Cash. I tried to capture a little of the smoky, rowdy, beer-smelling atmosphere of the best kind of shows in the third chapter of that story, but ultimately, text isn't the best of mediums for conveying music and such. But! Since this is the 21st century and the intarwebs and stuff, I can in turn rattle off a couple of bands for you all to listen to, and it makes me exciting for being cross-media or something. Really!

So yeah. To begin, there's The Monads. They're a bluegrass band made of punk musicians. Or, well, they WERE. They broke up a few years ago, (I saw their last show, it was appropriately epic), with occasional reunions on special occasions. The following video is particularly fun, as it was recorded in the City Museum, which is one of St. Louis' great countercultural landmarks. The Monads (and myself) are both from STL, so yeah. There may be a slight lean, there.

Another St. Louis band is Strawfoot. They've got more of a 'Southern Gothic' feel to them, but again, a very talented bunch of musicians. It helps that the first time I saw them play, they gave me free whiskey, which pretty well cemented my loyalty. I can be an easy man to please.

Technically, these dudes are from Columbia MO, not STL, but they're still rad. The Hooten Hallers are a two-piece country blues outfit, and they're rowdy as all hell. Super fun to watch. And, musically speaking, their song Lord Won't You Have a Little Mercy on Me is one of the major influences on Applejack's song in Chapter 3 of Reciprocity. So...maybe she's not quite as discordantly drunk as those two guys, but the rhyme and meter are...vaguely similar.

I actually -HAVEN'T- seen the Dive Poets perform live (which is something I need to fix), but again, this is probably one of my favorite country drinkin' songs, which says something.

In any case, I suppose that's a fair enough start. In case I've caught anyone's attention with some of my random references here, I'd also suggest a few non-St. Louis bands as well! The Pine Box Boys, Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles, Cutthroat Shamrock, the Asylum Street Spankers, Larry and His Flask, The White Ghost Shivers, the Widow's Bane, the Goddamn Gallows, the Sideshow Tramps...and probably a few more besides. Check them out! Just make sure you have a good supply of booze present for the full effect.