Henry Luther

Henry Luther is a chaos folk troubadour dealing in country-folk surrealism, folk-punk impressionism, and songs from the perspective of a country boy just trying to drink, ramble, fight, love, live, laugh, and cry in the face of the American absurdity.

Hailing from the swamps of Galivants Ferry, South Carolina, and operating from the great metropolis of Columbia, South Carolina, he is equally loved and despised for his omnipresent harmonica, sardonic commentary on the American experiment, irrational distaste for drums, stream-of-consciousness stage banter bordering on free association, and tendency to write long sentences ending in lists. He's often too country for trendy scenesters, and too unhinged and folky for the country crowd, but the liminal space he occupies between punk and americana presents ample opportunities to both mesmerize and piss off the small cross-section of music lovers who appreciate both. At best, he's Woody Guthrie with a banjo. At worst, he's The Wonder Years with a harmonica. Which probably ain't so bad.

Henry Luther is frequently billed with his revolving-cast backing band the Blackouts, which has no set lineup and varies from show to show depending on who he can talk into playing. To date somewhere between 13 and 36 people have been proud enough to call themselves Blackouts, and Henry Luther is hoping that number reaches the mid-150s before he heads to that great rally in the sky. He is also 1/3 of the chaos folk band Cocaine Fairies, which overlaps with the Blackouts so much it makes it hard to tell the difference between the two. But there must be one if there are gonna be two band names.

To date, Henry's released some studio albums, some live albums, some singles, and some EPs. He's a control freak who likes to mix and produce his own music, but he can't get organized enough to put out studio versions of songs before he drops them on live albums, and a lot of times the live album version is good enough that it might not be worth the effort to put it on an album. But he still might. Hard to say.

In 2024 he plans to release his first studio album in a long time and another live album, along with the Cocaine Fairies debut album, but we know how the best laid plans of mice and men can turn out, so we'll just have to see. 'Til then, he'll just keep jaunting his way through the eastern half of the country, doing his best Avett Brothers-John Prine-Hank Williams-Bob Dylan-Neutral Milk Hotel-George Jones impression at whatever dives and punk clubs will have him. Catch him at your local watering hole and buy him a beer after the show.