Robert Lester Folsom released his first studio album, Music and Dreams, in 1976. Although it received some local attention upon its initial release, the record was circulated via private pressings and Folsom was unable to complete a follow-up. It wasn’t until 2010, when the album was reissued by Anthology Recordings, that Folsom’s music reached far beyond the realm of crate diggers and collectors who had long ago assigned Music and Dreams a left-field legend status. 

If You Wanna Laugh, You Gotta Cry Sometimes released on Mexican Summer earlier this year, adds its own weight and weft to the rich tapestry of Folsom’s earliest experiments, featuring scuffed-shoe folk love ballads, slacker anthems, slow burning crooners, and a handful of bluegrass instrumentals, all of which are set alight by Folsom’s characteristic downhome warmth, wit, and charisma. This collection further solidifies Folsom’s place in the canon of long lost but eventually found independently spirited, high-flying American folk rock, planting his music in a timeless space primed for perennial rediscovery.

Support from Star Moles and Sean Solomon.