THE POSSUMS MEET
Picture a popular, inner-city coffeehouse in a beautiful, old Victorian home. Open stage on Wednesday nights and performances on the weekend. A cozy, laid-back venue for acoustic music, and a favorite hangout for Fort Wayne musicians and songwriters.
The place was Toast ‘n’ Jam – and it seems almost inevitable now that John Minton, Susie Suraci, Rob Suraci and Dave Kartholl would meet there. At the time, John was playing solo, Susie and Rob were performing as The Flying Suraci, and Dave was (and is) playing with several area bands. As the four became better acquainted, they started sitting in on each other’s gigs.
In 2003, John got together with Dave and another friend, Charlie Gilbert, to form The Possum Trot Orchestra. (Dave and Charlie had been playing together for years in the local bluegrass band that Charlie had founded, Gilbert & Company.) Not long after that, Rob began sitting in with the Possums to play bass, and by the summer of 2004 he’d “officially” joined the group. A few months later, Susie joined, too, while Charlie departed to devote more time to Gilbert & Company.
That leaves only one band member unaccounted for -- drummer Jon Hartman, who joined The Possum Trot Orchestra in 2007 and played on PTO’s newly released CD, Night Crow. All of Night Crow’s songs are originals -- split equally by songwriters John and Susie, with excellent percussion by Jon H. and superb mandolin work by Dave. (Vocals and other instruments are by John, Susie and Rob.)
MEET THE POSSUMS
When John isn’t playing music, he’s working at his day job as a university folklore professor. Drawing from a musical background steeped in traditional ballads, blues, country and rock, John not only demonstrates consummate skill as a musician but also as a songwriter, with subtle yet spellbinding lyrics. Prior to the release of the Possum Trot Orchestra’s three CDs to date - Night Crow (2008), Harbor Road (2006), and The Possum Trot Orchestra (2005) - John released two CDs of original material, Life and Times and Going Back to Vicksburg. Featured on Going Back to Vicksburg were Charlie Gilbert (banjo), Dave Kartholl (mandolin and bowed bass), and The Flying Suraci (background vocals).
Susie Suraci is an amazingly talented singer/songwriter/ musician whose musical past includes years of performing live as a member of various pop and rock bands, and recording a CD of original music, Then and Now, with husband Rob. Her songs interweave classic pop elements with her own unique musical style and vibrant, honest lyrics — all delivered in a voice that packs a sexy but powerful punch. Susie is also a visual artist whose striking and colorful paintings of landscapes and roadside scenes are well known throughout the region. She is a regular contributor to area art shows, exhibiting under the name Susan Taylor Suraci.
Gifted musician and singer Rob Suraci plays an incredibly wide range of instruments with equal skill, including bass guitar, rhythm and lead guitar, drums and more. His creativity, well-trained ear and sure sense of rhythm, combined with a warm and mellow voice on both lead vocals and harmonies, make him a vital ingredient to the band’s success. Like his wife Susie, Rob played in various bands, mostly rock and pop. He also spent years as a sound engineer in New York and elsewhere. (These days, he runs sound at the band’s local gigs, even while he’s playing.) But Rob’s interest in music extends even further--when he isn’t playing guitars, he’s busy building them.
Dave Kartholl is such a talented and innovative mandolin player, he makes it look easy. He plays many different styles of music with ease, which makes him a very popular and much sought- after musician. Dave is not only a master of the mandolin but also the guitar and bowed bass, and plays with numerous area bands, including the Grateful Groove, Gilbert & Company and Point of Departure. Unlike his city-dwelling fellow Possums, Dave enjoys a self-sufficient life out in the country, growing his own vegetables and living in the home he built himself. He enjoys sharing his love of music and gardening with all who are interested, and he gives guitar lessons to aspiring musicians.
So, there you have it. Brought together by a wonderful old coffeehouse and a dedicated love of music, the Possums are doing today what they’ve always dreamed of, both individually and collectively. They’re playing and recording original roots music, offering their own special interpretation of the American tradition.
(Mostly, though, they just like playing Possum.)
BUY The Possum Trot Orchestra - NIGHT CROW
BUY The Possum Trot Orchestra - HARBOR ROAD
BUY The Possum Trot Orchestra - THE POSSUM TROT ORCHESTRA
BUY John Minton - GOING BACK TO VICKSBURG
BUY John Minton - LIFE & TIMES
PRAISE FOR THE POSSUM TROT ORCHESTRA - HARBOR ROAD (Southern Can CDs 2227, 2006)
Including the track THE HOUSE THAT WE CAN'T BUY, as heard on NPR's ALL SONGS CONSIDERED/OPEN MIC, April 11, 2007.
The first thing to recommend HARBOR ROAD is its warm sound, a nice mesh of acoustic guitars, mandolins, electric guitar, bass (upright and electric) and drums. Often, another element is added, like an accordion on the title track and lap steel on TENNESSEE UNBOUND. Between the clarity of each instrument in the mix and Possum Trot Orchestra's loose performance style, the music breathes and simply sounds good. Susie Suraci and John Minton handle most of the vocals, and while neither would be described as a typical "good" singer, both bring an unassuming air to their lyrics (I think of their vocal approach as deriving from the Dylan-Neil Young school). Their voices, together and separately, also blend well with the instrumental arrangements. Suraci and Minton have also written most of the material, and have a talent for inserting politics into human stories (THE HOUSE THAT WE CAN'T BUY and BILLY).
I suppose that you could also call Possum Trot Orchestra a jam band, thanks to its laid-back vibe, even though this band never jams much. But genres, in the end, never tell you whether a band or album is any good. . . . Possum Trot Orchestra's warm sound, vocal combo, and lyrical flair offer an enjoyable, down-to-earth recording that should appeal to both roots and rock fans.
Ronald Lankford, Jr. - SING OUT! Summer 2007
8 OUT OF 10. Subtle and delicate American roots at its finest. . . . After their outstanding 2005 self-titled debut I was eagerly anticipating The Possum Trot Orchestra's latest offering. Not only does it not disappoint, but they've stretched out and expanded their template while retaining all the things that made their last album so great.... The Possum Trots are quiet and delicate players, very much less-is-more people, blending traditional folk and roots styles better than almost anyone. They demonstrate to perfection that it's not necessary to blast out a wall of sound to get your point across. Theirs is thoughtful music, music that repays repeated listens, music that is informed by but not in thrall to the tradition, [with songs that] have the timeless feel of classics like LONG BLACK VEIL. . . . A superb and rewarding listen.
Jeremy Searle - AMERICANA-UK, Liverpool, England, February 2007. www.americana-uk.com
This album contains fourteen tracks - or should I say gems? . . . I'm still dazzled by the original stuff The Possums have to offer. . . . Arranged in old ways or even sounding kind of poppy, sung and played impeccably. . . . HEART LIKE RAILROAD STEEL (that title and that electric slide guitar!) and BUCKEYSTOWN (with catchy chorus and upbeat interplay between 5-string banjo and mandolin) are absolutely gorgeous duets. ED (about a couple in New Orleans the night hurricane Katrina struck, not knowing that the levees broke) and BILLY (about a Korean War veteran: "And when they roll them laundry carts / He thinks they're Chinese howitzers," true story?) bring tears to my eyes. . . . The lyrics are featured in the booklet, smart addition, especially for us Europeans, who like to study the subjects! . . . O.K., one more word from me: RECOMMENDED!!
Johanna J. Bodde - INSURGENT COUNTRY, Marburg, Germany, January 2007 www.insurgentcountry.net
Many of the songs deal literally or metaphorically with the state of the union, but never in a heavy-handed or awkward way. The songs on HARBOR ROAD are short stories, often cinematic in scope, tackling weighty topics like disaster relief, veterans affairs, corporate takeover of radio airwaves, the rising cost of housing, Nashville's star-making machinery and more. But like folk troubadours from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to Billy Bragg, the Possums balance the matters of the world with politics of the heart - and songs like TENNESSEE UNBOUND, WINTERLIGHT, APPETITE, and the gorgeous album closer, WONDERFUL, deal with love and loss in a mature, daring way. . . . HARBOR ROAD is [the Possums'] best [album] yet, and stands tattered shoulder to tattered shoulder with recent Americana releases by the likes of John Prine, Shawn Colvin, Nanci Griffith and Neil Young.
Matt Kelley - WHATZUP: HEARTLAND ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT, Columbia City, Indiana, January 4, 2007 www.whatzup.com
On HARBOR ROAD, Minton's savvy historicism and the Suracis' pop acumen have met somewhere in the middle - and that place, for lack of a better designation, is the early '70s. The Possum Trot Orchestra is starting to exhibit the same shambling deliciousness and talent for musical stew-making as The Band.
Steve Penhollow - THE FORT WAYNE JOURNAL-GAZETTE, Sunday, December 17, 2006
Whatever faults the Possum Trot Orchestra may have on HARBOR ROAD, songwriting isn't one of them. Susie Suraci and John Minton spent the time between the release of their fine self-titled 2005 album and the recording of this one to hone their craft and it shows. Each supplies a fistful of tracks, some of them downright gems. . . . The band itself, with the first album far behind them and the addition of mandolin player Dave Kartholl, progresses as well. Kartholl's mandolin is at times apt and at others key to the progress. Suraci and Minton are their usual professional grade on their instruments. Rob Suraci, however, is leaps and strides beyond his last effort. His work on Blind Lemon Jefferson's BAD LUCK BLUES and Susie's APPETITE makes you wonder why he is limited so much to bass and drums on most of the album, but when you play alongside Minton, well… In the end, the progress each has made has given the band a boost in credibility as a band. They are definitely coming into their own. . . . The first time through this, I thought, okay, they've done it again. A solid effort. Repeated hearings, though, have me convinced that this is the jumping off point for bigger things. Today, Fort Wayne, tomorrow...? Allow me a pre-emptive strike here. This band shouldn't even think about splitting up for at least three more albums, maybe more. As good as they are individually on this album, I believe that they reach a synergy as a band that they might not ever capture solo. Now that I've said it, let me put the rumor to rest. They are not splitting up. Fact is, they have only just begun.
Frank Gutch, Jr. - THE FOLK AND ACOUSTIC MUSIC EXCHANGE
www.acousticmusic.com
HARBOR ROAD is the second album by this outstanding Fort Wayne, Indiana-based four-piece band, a vehicle for the literate (non-collaborative) songwriting of members John Minton and Susie Suraci. (The other members are multi-instrumentalist Rob Suraci and mandolinist Dave Kartholl.) The Possum Trot Orchestra, which defines itself as a modern folk outfit, fashions its personality out of tradition-inspired ideas set in pop and rock structures. . . . This is early 20th-century stringband music for the early 21st century. . . . Susie Suraci's songs are more poppish than Minton's - you could say they validate the otherwise ordinarily abused practice of country-pop - though their respective styles mesh amazingly well. As an academic folklorist and scholar of traditional music, Minton composes material that takes off from venerable themes and characters - striking workers, wounded soldiers, rambling hobos, would-be victims matching wits with the devil - and peppers it with folksong- derived quotes ("heart like railroad steel," "doney gal," "the girl I left behind"). Yet the results don't come across as an effort to recreate the sounds of old tunes (not, of course, that there's anything wrong with that). The melodies are not obviously adapted from folk templates but assume their own unique shape. Minton sings all of this in a voice that is sometimes gruff, sometimes whispery, always unpolished in an endearing sort of way. . . . The more conventionally pretty singer, Suraci handles vocals on her own well-crafted songs, set to flowing melodies carrying intelligent, sometimes fierce lyrics. Those lyrics are often focused on social and political issues - the Katrina catastrophe, domestic violence, manipulation of media by the control freaks of the current regime - but do so without a self-destructing self-righteous tone. . . . It's a nice touch, too, that the band gives us a fairly straightforward performance (with vocal by Rob Suraci) of Blind Lemon Jefferson's great BAD LUCK BLUES. In almost everything it does, PTO is boldly lighting into new territory, but it's refreshing to know that, every once in a while, it is not afraid to return to the old homestead.
Jerome Clark - Rambles.NET: A CULTURAL ARTS MAGAZINE, 7 April 2007
www.rambles.net
PRAISE FOR THE POSSUM TROT ORCHESTRA - THE POSSUM TROT ORCHESTRA (Southern Can CDs 2225, 2005)
With a cross of multiple folk styles and a touch of surrealism, the Possum Trot Orchestra is weird in the best sense of the word.... PTO references traditional folk without mimicking it.... With PTO's eclectic, bright approach to re-imagined tradition, POSSUM TROT ORCHESTRA is both enjoyable and intriguing, and should please folk fans looking for something out of the ordinary.
Ronald Lankford, Jr. - SING OUT! Summer 2006
Contemporary American roots at its finest.... Not merely a very good album, it's one of the defining albums of contemporary American roots.... A light and mellow album that conceals depths the likes of which more overt and strident works can only dream. A masterpiece.
Jeremy Searle - AMERICANA-UK, Liverpool, December 2005
www.americana-uk.com
As an effort to fashion a kind of creative roots sound for the early 21st century, this CD succeeds almost against expectations. There's enough depth to it to repay many listenings ...[and] a distinctive sound and a point of view that is appealingly its own.
Jerome Clark - Rambles.NET: A CULTURAL ARTS MAGAZINE, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, February 2006
www.rambles.net
The Possum Trot Orchestra (Southern Can CDs) is het debuut van het trio dat op onnadrukkelijke en relaxte wijze eer betoont aan de rijke Amerikaanse folkgeschiedenis. Ze doen dat via een popbenadering en met merendeels akoestische instrumenten en met vooral met prachtige harmoniezang. Het geeft de softrock van The Possums een heerlijke mellow touch. (The Possum Trot Orchestra (Southern Can CDs) is the debut of a trio whose laid-back, relaxed manner does honor to the rich American folk tradition. They accomplish this with a pop approach, with mostly acoustic instruments, and especially with beautiful harmony singing. It all gives the softrock of The Possums a lovely mellow touch.)
Wiebren Rijkeboer - AltCountryNL, Groninger, The Netherlands, January 2006 www.altcountry.nl
A wonderfully mellow album that takes you through all phases of American music as ..Music from Big Pink' did over 30 years ago.... This album is unlikely to disappoint anyone who has an appreciation of Americana music of the highest quality.
ROOTSMUSIC.co.uk, London, December 2005 www.rootsmusic.co.uk
Susie Suraci writes mature pop-rock songs with a stirring 70s vibe, and John Minton croons modern Americana songs that could easily belong to a timeless generation. But both use a variety of traditional folk instruments to round out their songs, and both create songs heavily steeped in cheerful melancholy and bright regret.... The inspiration each gives the other is a bonus for fans of music that will stand the test of time.
Jason Hoffman - WHATZUP: HEARTLAND ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT, Columbia City, Indiana, January 19, 2006
Folk blijkt weliswaar bij herhaling het voornaamste bestanddaal van hun [the Possums'] smakelijk roots-stampotje, maar ook country, bluegrass, blues, gospel, rock, pop, swing, ragtime, ja zelfs reggae passeren stuk voor stuk allemaal de revue. En dat levert een hoogst interessante hybride op. (Folk is the main ingredient in their [the Possums'] tasty roots-stew, but country, bluegrass, blues, gospel, rock, pop, swing, ragtime, yes even reggae all pass in review one after the other. And that produces a most interesting hybrid.)
Benny Metten - CTRL ALT COUNTRY, Hasselt, Belgium, December 2005
www.ctrlaltcountry.be
Flavor of the month.... De muziek van The Possums is gebaseerd op Amerikaanse traditie in een variatie aan stijlen maar straalt een ongelooflijke frisheid uit! (Flavor of the month.... The music of The Possums is based on American tradition in a variety of styles but radiates an incredible freshness!)
Theo Oldenburg - ALT COUNTRY COOKING, Radio Winschoten, The Netherlands, December 2005 www.realrootscafe.com/altcountrycooking.html
In the days before [the Possum Trot Orchestra] proved itself to be so powerful and winning, the Minton/Suraci combo probably didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Minton specializes in stylish refurbishments of old-timey music and the Flying Suraci was a folk-pop outfit that sometimes came across as a considerably less drowsy Cowboy Junkies. But the proof is in the pudding, if a disc made of layered polycarbonate, aluminum and acrylic resin can be described as a pudding. Of course it can’t. Because Minton and the Suracis are consummate musicians and songwriters coming from different ends of the musical spectrum, the first CD is like a tour of about a century’s worth of popular music. At various moments, it evokes Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Fairport Convention, Jefferson Airplane, The Band, Joan Armatrading and others.... The whole thing is almost improbably tasty.... I would say “Run, don’t walk to your local record store and buy a copy,” if running didn’t seem so pokey in this context.
Steve Penhollow, THE FORT WAYNE JOURNAL-GAZETTE, Sunday, January 15, 2006
check out John's new book - 78 Blues: Folksongs and Phonographs in the American South - with the University Press of Mississippi
visit Susie's MySpace page
hear The Possum Trot Orchestra and Harbor Road (and many other
great artists!) on Folk Alley
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