Slats Klug and Friends
Another Souvenir for the Ears
~ by Mark Blackwell
I
got a phone call the other day. It was my old pal, Slats. In a county where you can spit in just about any direction and hit a musician of some sort, Slats Klug stands out. He is a keyboard, accordion, and harmonica ace and he’ s not too shaggy on guitar either. In these parts, Slats is the Brown County“ lyricist laureate.”
Slats is not originally from Brown County but like a lot of us, he found his way here after personal and musical odyssey. Originally from West Virginia, he says,“ Brown County feels just like home and where I live musically.” He adopted Brown County and it adopted him right back. He has been writing love songs to it and about it ever since.
His latest CD is the fifth installment in his“ Liars Bench” series. It’ s titled“ Summer Sky” and has just been released. Like his previous Brown County albums, it is a paean to our unique county and the lives of folks who live( d) here. There are 14 songs that deal with everything from skinnydippin’ in summer to“ Jack the Wonder Dog,” to loves, lost and found. But the over-riding theme is life in the hills of Brown County.
The cover of“ Summer Sky” says it’ s by Slats Klug and Friends and he sure does have a slew of friends. There are 29 local musicians involved in creating the songs on this album. The way they capture the spirit of Slats’ s music makes them sound like they’ ve been playing together forever. There is a wonderful synergy on these tracks of country, country rock, and folk flavored songs.
Slats’ s first Brown County album,“ Liars’ Bench,” came out in 1997 and it is comprised of songs about the folks who lived in and around Nashville at the early part of the twentieth century, as well as some of the artists who came to stay and record the natural beauty of Brown County on canvas.
In 1999 he continued his song sketches of the county in a CD titled“ My Brown County Home,” telling stories in song that were“ mostly” true, like the one called“ The Sheriff is Locked Up.” That event really happened and concerned a duly sworn officer of the law who wound up sampling too much“ evidence” in a bootlegging case.
Brown County is a scenically spectacular place to visit in autumn and that’ s when most folks come to look at the vistas of turning leaves. It is also a great place to enjoy spring when the woods are blossoming with wild flowers. The camping and hiking and fishing and such can’ t be beat in the summer. But most folks can’ t imagine how magical winter can be in our little village of Nashville and the surrounding hills and hollers.
Slats did imagine it and in 2000 he came out with a CD of Christmas and winter-time songs intriguingly titled,“ A Brown County Christmas.” It is a mix of original songs by Slats, like
24 Our Brown County • Nov./ Dec. 2014