Rod Picott (USA): Celebrated songwriter with whiskey-voiced delivery

Date/Time Sun 03 Jul 2022 8:00 PM

Price Online - £9 + 90p fee; On The Door - £10

Website: http://rodpicott.com/


This evening was originally scheduled for 19th June, but a rugby match necessitated a move.

Rod Picott has garnered a loyal cult audience across the U.S. and Europe. He tours tirelessly and continues to garner rave reviews for both his songwriting skills and darkly humorous, compelling live show.

It’s been over 10 years since Rod played TwickFolk, so we’re delighted to have him back.

Growing up in the small mill town of South Berwick, Maine, Picott was exposed to a surprising mix of musical influences. His father, a former marine owned a record collection that spanned from the marches of John Philip Sousa to Ray Charles and an older brother, an avid record collector, introduced Rod to the punk poetry of Patti Smith and The Clash, finishing the groundwork of influences that Rod would draw from later in his own music. The seacoast area of southern Maine had an unlikely but thriving local music scene in the 80’s and and Picott spent his teenage years in garage cover bands and original bands playing the clubs from Boston, MA to Portland, ME.

’94 saw a move to Nashville TN where Rod established himself as one of the better new writers in town and hosted a weekly showcase called Rod Picott’s Fireside Whiskey Hour as well as opening shows for Alison Krauss and Union Station and Gillian Welch. His co-write “Broke Down” with Slaid Cleaves was the most played song on Americana radio in 2000.

Rod’s eleventh album, Tell The Truth & Shame The Devil appeared in 2019. Many of the songs are influenced by a health scare that Picott endured in the winter of 2018. The condition was hunted down and solved but the weeks long incident of a freight train running through his chest played a profound role in the writing and recording of the album. Tell The Truth & Shame The Devil takes a small turn away from the blue collar anthems he’s been lauded for and finds Picott exploring his own inner life with the same deft and revealing hand he’s honed over the last nineteen years. Rod Picott’s health is now in check.

A prolific writer, Picott has recently turned his hand to poetry (God In His Slippers, Murmmeration – Mezcalita Press) short fiction (Out Past The Wires – Working Title Farm) and has a novel in the works titled A Bony Right Fist.