Adam Arcuragi

Adam Arcuragi - "The Old Sears & Roebuck Catalogue"

by John Vettese

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Published: Feb 19, 2008

David John Hartley (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Whether he's singing about fading color photographs or playing overtop of rustic banjo and pedal steel parts, Adam Arcuragi has always shown a fondness for the old-timey. In the second cut on his long-awaited Soldiers for Feet EP, the Philly songsmith studies it directly, embracing one of those staples of nostalgic Americana: the durable, all-purpose mail-order catalog. "Well, if this isn't what you wanted, we can always send it back to the Sears & Roebuck for sure," he sings, suggesting perhaps a different color, or a better utility for growing potatoes, expending a verse to describe different elements of this unspecified object. As Arcuragi's elliptical narrative unfolds, it seems our protagonist is addressing a crippled friend, talking of a healer just out of town who can give "a layin' on of the hands" and using his genteel baritone to offer futile hope of recovery. The old Sears & Roebuck, it seems, is the sole link to an outside world too elusive for our bedridden character and too long-gone for us to ever see again.

If Adam Arcuragi can provide a stack of vintage S&Rs at his record release at the Ethical Society on Feb. 21, I'll gladly order him a sturdy new garden shovel and a set of curtains.

 

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