Our favourite riverboat chic rock-n-roller Pokey LaFarge is back in Australia this May, this time with his band and ready to share his latest offering, Rhumba Country, serving up flavours of mambo, Tropicália, rocksteady, and mid-century American rock-and-roll. 

It’s been six years since the Illinois-born singer songwriter embraced our southern shores, when he toured the country in 2019 with a then unknown, Sierra Ferrell.

After crisscrossing and rambling around the USA looking for a home, Pokey LaFarge found himself in Mid-Coast Maine ready to pursue a major life change. Pokey’s time of working 12-hour days on a local farm catalysed an extraordinary burst of creativity and redefined his sense of purpose as an artist. And now he has recorded and birthed his boldest album yet, ready to share with Australian fans.

Rhumba Country (2024, New West Records) was initially shaped from material that emerged while LaFarge was deep in work on the farm. “I’d be pushing a plow or scattering seeds, and the songs would just come to me,” he recalls. “It was tremendously inspirational and made me realize that apart from singing, farming is perhaps the oldest human art form.” 

The result is a kaleidoscopic sound informed by LaFarge’s love of music from far-ranging eras and corners of the globe, celebrating life and love.