Nate Houge & the Honest Folk - a Review of The Phantom Tollbooth

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Folkstar
Artist: Nate Houge & the Honest Folk
Label: Independent
Length: 13/44:34

If Bill Mallonee had grown up in Minnesota, he would have changed his name to Nate Houge and formed a band called The Honest Folk. Folkstar is the best unknown album I have heard this year by a long shot.

Houge and his bandmates have crafted thirteen songs that resonate deeply, providing insight into life, while illustrating scenes that we all go through in life. His lyrics are intelligent, thought-provoking, and at times, an indictment of how we humans can lose sight of what is most important.

"Going Down" illustrates the insidious way in which Satan tries to work:

Going down is never as easy
As it was to build yourself up
This time there's no more appeasing
Just because you're out of luck
You promised me the earth
Should I would forsake my birth?
Like Jacob and Esau you saw us as brothers
You said it was my light
To give up the light
As if my going down would not take others.

The album's title reflects the musical styles here. Houge's voice is a lot like Bill Mallonee (VoL), with some Bob Dylan thrown in. He plays the guitar, banjo, dulcimer, and mandolin while featuring the djembe above all else. While Jason Moran is the percussionist, multi-talented Micah Taylor adds bass, mandolin, and backup vocals. Matt Marohl of Accident Clearinghouse contributes pedal steel on several tracks.

"Crying Out" is the tale of a Native American, trying to find God in the face of his persecution. Lyrically, it recalls Johnny Cash's best work. "Folkstar" is comparable to the VoL song "Nothing Like a Train", and shows the ups and downs of living your dreams:

We're a breed of starving artists, some say lunatics
Sharing songs and sharing tears over broken strings and well-worn picks
We've got our trophies and we've got our scars
Sharing songs and sharing tears, pass that old guitar…

"SUV's and TV's" is a polemic against the trends of modern society, pointing out the need for possessions and mindlessness that seems to be the norm:

I believe it's high time we kill the TV
And bring to life something that will last
The boob tube's a test tube and we're all experiments
Living on the other side of the glass…

"How Many Times" is this album's "Resplendent" (VoL, Audible Sigh), showing a despondent farmer beaten down by life, and searching for God. "Flack Jacket" is reminiscent of VoL's "Skin", reminding us that we need to be prepared for the slings and arrows of life as we try to pursue Godliness.

OK, I think I've made my point. Folkstar is the lost VoL album, or the best debut work I've heard in quite some time. Nate Houge and the Honest Folk lack one thing, and that is a widespread audience. This is a groundbreaking piece of work.

Brian A. Smith 10/21/2001