CapLive: Kurt Vile & The Violators

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Kurt Vile has slowly, quietly become one of the great American guitarists and songwriters of our time.  As a teenager, his bluegrass-loving father gifted him with a banjo, when what Kurt craved was a guitar — so he played it as if it were.

The Violators debuted on the 2009 EP The Hunchback, coming into their own on Vile’s third album, Childish Prodigy. His fifth album, Wakin On A Pretty Daze, is a 69-minute double LP and Kurt’s defining statement to date. Where previous albums alternated between gorgeous fingerpicking and heavy guitar workouts, this album blends the two in dreamy, expansive songs that gradually unfurl like a massive flag. It is a record that would have sounded great 30 years ago, sounds great today, and will still sound great 30 years from now.

Price: $24