So what’s VON FOLTA all about? Life, Love and the Blues, I guess... More or less! This Rock’n’Roll guerrilla sings “... of urban America and its vast paradoxes of pioneering, individuality and alienation. A voice that can be robust and dense, melodic and fragile, or abrasive and hard-hitting…”. His lyrics have been called enigmatic, critical and inspiring, among other things. Find out for yourself!
VON FOLTA’s musical education happened in the Counter Culture Jam Band Scene of the San Francisco Bay Area, inspired by legendary american bands like the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers Band and pretty much all Blues, RnB, Motown and Soul artists from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Coupled with his admiration for the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Pink Floyd (to name a few), influences are not difficult to discover. If you need to pigeonhole VON FOLTA, the category RnB Soul Rock might satisfy you. “You try to make good music and hope it works out that way!“
What connects him with kindred souls, is the devotion to a music that finds its roots in the Blues and American Folk Musik. Working together with other musicians in the studio and on the stages of California (The Joint, Cat Club, Dragonfly, the Malibu Inn and the Mint - among others - with humble and fun beginnings at Anastasia’s Asylum in Santa Monica and the Valley’s LuLu’s Beehive) he developed a sound that an exacting listener described with the words: “The artist meshed a host of musical influences and styles, paying distinct homage to the Beatles, Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin… and what resulted was a driving fusion of Rock, reinvented Psychedelia, Country licks and American Soul — a provocative sound that is distinctly VON FOLTA.” Not too shabby for a kraut!
In 2000 the road led him to Los Angeles where the music brought him together with a variety of talented musicians, among them Herman Matthews and Larry Kimpel (who have played for a long list of well known artists such as Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette or Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder) and in 2011 provided the rhythm section on VON FOLTA’s album ‘Spacesuit’. Since then he has been riding the roller coaster of life and writing more music.
Upon closer inspection the unique character of each album crystallises and tells it’s story, like the pages of a journal. A colorful array of songs, featuring the autobiographical ’Lady Sweet Dream’, ‘Catacombs’, ‘Tired of Being Well Behaved’, ‘When You Got The Blues’, ‘Without Your Love’ and ‘Keep On Dancing’.
Should your curiosity be aroused, fear not! Let this voice seduce you to go on a journey through the life and thoughts of a free spirit. A fan once commented: ”This music makes you feel like quitting your job and go experience life!” But you don’t have to quit your job to experience this Rock’n’Roll guerrilla and take some of that good feeling with you!
VON FOLTA studied Fine Art / Illustration. Some of his artwork can be admired and scrutinised in the ART section of this website.
For more information please visit VON FOLTA on Instagram and YouTube or write to us.
DO BEAUTY!
