13 or So People Who Need Chances

VOLLMAR is from Bloomington, IN, by way of WV. He's made an album of obvious songs (recorded at home) with obvious sounds (recorded elsewhere). At the same time being both less and more than his first record, Every Place is Home (Bluesanct 2002), 13 or so People in Need of Chances is an exercise in traditional folk-song story-telling with contemporary structural elements. The record has a first half (nylon stringed guitar and voice), interlude (instrumental for found sounds and toy piano), last half (electric guitar and voice) and end (youth and hope). Sounds are used to narrate the songs and direct the listener into new settings while also allowing Vollmar to create pieces that are both surreal and expressionistic. Musically, he sounds simultaneously old (maybe Donovan or Townes Van Zandt) and new (maybe Warn Defever or The Microphones).