Premiere: Brother Dege brings Country to Town

Robert Johnson on Thorazine debuts Farmer's Almanac

Brother Dege Legg is one of the best-kept secrets in Louisiana, but hopefully not for long. Farmer’s Almanac, the Louisiana native’s sprawling, Southern concept album, explores the unique mysteries of small towns with otherworldly slide guitars and barn-burning anthems.

Despite recognition from two industries, both as a musician (Grammy-nominee for Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained) and a writer (Louisiana Press Award 2004, 2008) Legg remains an outsider artist, clashing with the pecking orders, prejudices, and parochial narrow-mindedness that thrives in small towns.

Legg’s Robert Johnson-on-Thorazine-style slide work paired with his droning-rural psychedelia has brought the backwoods sounds of Louisiana (hurricanes, cows, cicadas) to life. Of this cut, Brother Dege told Elmore: “‘Country Come to Town’ is about that odd, insecure feeling you get when one grows up in the country or a small town and must eventually do battle—in some form or another—on the killing floor of the big city.”