Written by: Dave Cantrell

Back when we were first made aware of Lumberob we were as gobsmacked and thunderstruck as most of his Austin followers had become accustomed to being when witnessing the guy’s turn-of-the-century shows featuring tape-loop shenanigans that defied most agreed upon parameters of logic. That previous piece also, if you click on that link above as we suggest you do, required a lengthy heading as any would given the uncontainable breadth of the guy’s talent. Even though we – like many of you, we trust – were catching up to that talent a bit late, once we’d cottoned on to it there was little surprise that Rob ‘Lumberob’ Erickson had also featured on the Daniel Johnston covers album first released on CD back in 2006 and recently reissued as an LP by (who else?) Shimmy-Disc. Of all the contributors to that estimable volume – an impressive roster that includes Dot Allison, Mike Watt, R. Stevie Moore, Joy Zipper, Jad Fair (w/Kramer) and many more – we’d reckon that only Fair would merit equal standing in the Eccentric Genius Stakes (which makes eminent sense seeing as the two collaborated on four digital-only albums in 2004/05). Singular and irrepressible, Lumberob has carved his own path over the past couple of decades that in its fashion defines that particular brand of entertainer one could reasonably gather under a banner spray-painted with the words ‘weird American troubadour,’ a motley and often wonderfully prolific troupe that numbers in something far less than the dozens.

Though we’ve never met him in person we assume from all indications that the word ‘effusive’ would not be misplaced next to a picture of Lumberob and the video produced for his track off the aforementioned comp and just released today in support of that new reissued vinyl edition would seem to confirm that with a giddy ease. Steeped in a video spirit that lives somewhere between an Andrew Wyeth painting and the Three Stooges, the level of joy that tracks from its gravity-defying opening to the psychedelicized whimsy of its final frames is delightfully, unrestrainedly off the charts, which is very much as it should be considering whose music is being celebrated. We are well-pleased indeed to bring this to you – that joy, you see, is contagious – because no matter how your day is going, who couldn’t use two minutes forty-five of romping happiness. Roll it!!