Jesse James DeConto of The Pinkerton Raid stopped by Live & Local this week, following the release of his new album “If You Love Somebody, Tell Them.”
Visit PinkertonRaid.com.
“(It’s a) basic human truth: whatever our love languages are, we all need words of affirmation at times,” DeConto says of the album’s title. “Possibly we need them more (now) than ever I can remember in my lifetime.”
Co-produced with James Phillips (Bombadil) and David Wimbish (The Collection), DeConto’s seventh Pinkerton Raid album is meeting the moment, leaning into our current collective political anxiety with songs that acknowledge the troubles, pain, and sometimes despair – but that also seek an affirmative way forward.
“I don’t want to write propaganda,” he says. “It’s easy to do, (and) the social media landscape kind of rewards it, because people respond to that outrage, and if you can tap into emotions they’re already feeling, you can get fans, or you can get some reaction, you can get some engagement. But then what? I would rather have real conversations and describe what’s going on, in as much truth as I can…
“Propaganda is tempting: ‘well, what if it could really make a difference? What if it could move the needle? What if it could change things?’ But I don’t see that happening. I may be naive, but I still believe that real storytelling and human connection is where people change their minds. If they ever do.”
What emerged from that well are 14 tracks – eight out now in Volume 1, the rest to follow in the spring – that acknowledge and denounce the present day’s divisions, injustices, and existential threats, but try to push back with grace. In songs like “We Tremble With The Noise” (about the people caught in the middle of social movements) and “Strawberry Ice” (about finding pockets of joy in a world full of suffering), DeConto calls on all of us to love and care for each other – and, in election season, to use our voices and votes to give power to the sort of people who might lead with love and care as well.
“Protest songs are love songs,” he says, “because the only politics worth a lick are those based in loving our neighbors.”
Listen to the album and order it on Bandcamp.
The Pinkerton Raid’s website characterizes the songs on “If You Love Somebody” as “protest songs with ‘big dad energy’,” and it’s a fitting descriptor: DeConto says a big part of his motivation was the experience of raising kids in what has been an extremely challenging last quarter-century.
“I think bringing kids into the world right now is one of the most courageous things somebody could do,” he says. “You have to have some kind of a well of hope that you think we could right this ship, we can fix this mess, and it’s going to be better down the road. I don’t know that you can have any kind of peace in your life, if you don’t have some kind of hope.”
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The Pinkerton Raid’s official album-release show isn’t until March 6, a full-band show at Stanczyk’s in Durham. Before that, though, DeConto is heading out on a multi-state tour that will take him up the East Coast and out to the Midwest.
And this Friday, October 16, he’s playing a solo set at Yonder in downtown Hillsborough (along with the Rattletraps, who recently released an album of their own) to raise money for the SKJAJA Fund, a local nonprofit that provides resources for Orange County students to participate in extracurricular activities like art, sports – and of course music. (97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck is a board member.)
Click here to learn more about the cause.
“I’ve never played at Yonder before,” DeConto says of Friday’s show. “(And) I remember having little kids and wanting them to be able to do everything, whatever they wanted to do, whatever they were interested in. And it’s never a good feeling if the cost of those things is a barrier to letting your kids explore something that they might really love. So I’m really excited to support the cause.”
Jesse James DeConto stopped by Live & Local this week to discuss “If You Love Somebody, Tell Them” and play three songs: the title track, “Strawberry Ice (and the World Burns),” and “The Fire Lets the Light In.” Listen:
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