With its twanging guitars, plucky rhythms, and undeniably captivating melodies, the album soars and swings, its joyous refrains belying the inescapable undercurrent of constant worry and angst that permeates these troubled times.

As always, the Illinois native deftly traverses the genre boundaries, seamlessly integrating the myriad strains of 20th-century American music with a freewheeling command of earnest songcraft, inspired performance, and subversive creativity.

Rent Money stands tall as an indisputable high-water mark for Pokey LaFarge – a defining collection from a one-of-a-kind artist of rare ingenuity and uncommon candor, now as ever, determinedly crafting a sure-footed brand of deeply human music all his own.

Black LP