My introduction to my friend Patrick Foster was a funny one. Within minutes of the chance encounter last summer he had handed me a copy of Steps of Slidell, the debut CD from his band Patrick Foster & the Locomotive, right out of the back of his car. I didn’t think much of it — I mean, this was just some random guy in Wenatchee handing out free CDs to strangers, so how good could it be?
Turns out, pretty good. OK, real good.
When I put on Slidell later that night, I almost immediately had a guitar in my hands trying to figure out the complex chord changes and riffs, and I definitely felt like a moron for having offering my not-so-impressive slide guitar skills earlier in the night to Patrick, who shows off his slide-guitar wizardry throughout the record. My final verdict was that Slidell is one of the better offerings from the indie soul-rock genre that is home to Pickwick and Allen Stone, but with a little more polish, a little more heft, and a little more willingness to jump out of genre. It’s also a dizzying concept album (way above my lyrically-challenged head) full of world-class musicianship, the right amount of rockers, ballads and mid-tempo tunes, and Patrick’s soulful, carefully crafted vocal melodies.
Basically, the album is unlike anything else I’ve ever heard from Wenatchee’s growing music scene, which is why it’s no surprise to me that the Locomotive has branched out to Seattle. Their biggest show to date is Thursday on a triple-bill at Columbia City Theater with Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin, and after seeing the crackerjack band Patrick has put together a few times, I have full confidence they’re going to knock it out of the park.
Since first meeting Patrick, I’ve been able to jam with him and pick his brain on his influences (Jeff Buckley, The Band, Bill Withers and Ray Lamontagne all loom large). I quickly learned he has an incredible understanding of music, and more importantly how he wants his own music to sound. He’s equally adept as a singer, songwriter, guitar player and arranger, and the 10 tracks on Slidell are the product of that. He gets his story across through blues-rock riffs, tender harmonies, New Orleans-influenced tempos, killer slide guitar solos, ace 70s funk keyboards, vibes, strings, even a guest spot from harmonica great Lee Oskar of the band War. Slidell is a labor of love that Patrick tuned and perfected into the exact album he wanted to hear, and it translates well on speakers and in live performance.
But in the words of Reading Rainbow’s Lavar Burton, you don’t have to take my word for it. Go stream Patrick Foster & the Locomotive’s album on Spotify or at www.patrickfostermusic.com. Tickets for the band’s Columbia City Theater show on Thursday can be purchased here for $8.
