Souled American :: “Fe” - Rough Trade
Photo: Jeff Hamand
From the cold, callused streets of mean Chicago to the holy hemisphere of song-writing sensationalism, Souled American got their humble start in the small town of Normal, IL, in 1983 just as punk began to combine into this rare, symbiotic situation that produced a new form of story-telling and bold ballad structure from the sonic shadows of Youngian worship. A decade shy before the world would experience the next generation of this prophetic phenomenon with bands like The Silver Jews, Jason Molina’s Songs: Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co., James Toth’s Wooden Wand, and countless others, Souled American ecstatically emerged from the dynamical depths of tonal timing and sobering structure in the mid-west to bring a more electrifying take on, perhaps what some of the greats before them, had seemingly left off during the previous delapidated decades. Consisting of founding members Chris Grigoroff and Joe Adducci, who had previously occupied the ska/reggae outfit The Uptown Rulers, Bob Egan, Jamey Barnard, and Scott Tuma, the group’s barroom ballads spring into fabulous flames of flickering futuristic fables and the infamous near-death narrative of spiritualist contemplation. While keeping the lucidity of the band’s core loose and drunkenly decisive, Souled American landed a deal with the highly influential Rough Trade label for the band’s melodic 1988 masterpiece, “Fe.” Recorded and mixed at Chicago Trax, CRC, Universal, and the Sciencelab in NYC, the album immediately launched the group into the chronic circuit of touring and pulverizing press junctions while simultaneously remaining true to their resonating roots within the zone of country coincidence and situational story-telling.
Photo: Jeff Hamand
With songs like the album’s iconic opener “Notes Campfire,” “Lottery Brazil,” “Make Me Laugh Make Me Cry," and the melodic ender “Feel Better,” Souled American are simply fascinating in their poetic process as they fundamentally blend the early stages of the Flying Burrito Bros. with the atmospheric acidity of The Fugs with their everlasting style and wide-ranging approach to influence, historical harmony and the cosmic country catalyst that is currently surging through contemporary independent music today. With volcanic vocals volunteering in the cliff jumping of the century, Souled American explores the community of the cosmos with a brilliance in volume that is vulnerable and vastly tough against a backdrop that featured events like the Soviet war with Afghanistan that ended after nearly a decade long massacre and the stronghold of Bush taking office. Their music echoes into the ether like that of some natural-born instinct to praise the perspective of hard-working individualism and the direct connection to what it means to be an artist with life longevity.
“We were always playing and working. We just didn’t have an audience, and no one was reaching out anymore.”
It’s irresistibly important to picture this band in the pre-grunge era because the art of song had radically changed in the early to mid-1990s before its revolutionary return in the later years, and reflecting on this retro renaissance one must ask themselves: “What happened to Souled American and their breakthrough sound after the mid to late 1990s? Where “Fe” meets the endless shores of Young’s “On The Beach,” the album sincerely reflects the blue-collar co-existence of a time and place in Middle America that was captured and told so well throughout the melodic material that is both mesmerizing and often comical. Following the album’s success in the universal underground, the band released several titles throughout the 1990s, the dynamic duo Chris Grigoroff and Joe Adducci continued you with the original spirit and visual vision of what the band was all about. With announcements of the group performing in spring 2025 and new material released back in October, it is without a doubt the lyrical legacy and poetic perfection of the group have ultimately withstood the harsh climates of being a musician over the decades and are a force for future bands to pull such incredible determination and dedication to their craft. With a firm grip on the throats of trepidation and boots heavily placed into the soulful sidewalks of Chicago’s concrete jungle of catatonic culture and scenic sorcery, the band left behind foundational footprints in American music while holding nothing back and leaving everything on both the stage and court.
