AFTON WOLFE Delivers “Truck Drivin Man” & “The Moon is Going Down”

September 29, 2022 by 1888media

Nashville, by way of Mississippi, singer-songwriter-soothsayer Afton Wolfe has ushered in the next wave of his brain in the form of a 2-song e-cassingle “Truck Drivin Man” + “The Moon is Going Down“.

Wandering down a dark moody trail as he addresses some of the grim realities of the area he grew up in, “Truck Drivin Man” has him sounding more than ever like a mix of Tom Waits, Mark Lanegan and Father John Misty. The nearly six-minute excursion features a tribal hypnotic swirl of keys (Wolfe), bass (Brett Ryan Stewart) and violin (Rebecca Weiner Tompkins).

“Mark Mann (Truck Drivin Man) is an institution in the rock scene in Hattiesburg, Mississippi – my hometown. The song, originally released in 1998, is about the murder of “Lot Lizards” – truckstop prostitutes – and I was working at the “shiny new convention center” when it came out. Frankly, it scared the shit out of me,” recalls Wolfe.

For the B side, Afton delivers his unmistakable grit to visceral material from a somewhat unheralded but none-the-less important songwriter. On his deeply affecting take on “The Moon is Going Down,” renown multi-instrumentalist Seth Fox adds a dash of clarinet.

“Ryan B. Case (The Moon is Going Down) is one of my best friends and favorite songwriters. He has a couple of solo records, and he was the frontman for Nashville Americana early adopters The Victrolas. He’s continued to write, though he hasn’t released anything in a while. He showed this song to me – about the lockdowns and the world falling apart just outside the window, but being hopeful because of the person you’re with. I asked him if I could record and release it,” offered Wolfe.

Fresh from a quartet of show-stopping performances during AmericanaFest (he chronicled his week-long zig zag for Glide Mag), Wolfe’s making a pilgrimage to his home state for a couple of dates:

Sept 29 – Jackson, MS – Hal & Mal’s (6pm) FREE
Sept 30 – Hattiesburg, MS – Grill & Grocery (w/ Mark Mann)

He then returns to Nashville to pseudo celebrate Frederich Nietzsche‘s 178th birthday on Saturday October 15 at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge (in Madison).

Joining him for a foray of debaucherous caroling (and a bushel of God is Dead cupcakes) are East Nash pals Adrian+Meredith and Shadwick Wilde. Music runs 6-8:30pm. More info Dee’s web site.