When Front Country said "What will the people do? When we have nothing to lose?" they really were talking about our moment where we have nothing to lose, and they wrote this as a hopeful question because this November might be one of the biggest elections of our lives.

Front Country is an American folk-pop and progressive bluegrass band founded in San Francisco. The band consists of lead vocalist and songwriter Melody Walker, mandolinist Adam Roszkiewicz, lead guitarist Jacob Groopman, violinist Leif Karlstrom and bassist Jeremy Darrow, and they believe in democracy! Their newest single, Amerikan Dream, is a powerful protest song through storytelling and twangy guitars. It highlights the insidiousness of dogma and familiar inequalities. This song not only stems from one man, but also from the atrocity and exploitation in the country. It has become the rebellion of Front Country. They believe that by demanding change, people can dismantle the dogma within ourselves and reckon with American hypocrisy. And Front Country doesn’t stop with their music, they also do voter registration pushes with HeadCount at their shows. Please read our exclusive interview with band member Melody Walker below to learn more about Front Country and how to be the change.

Where are you based?
The band started in San Francisco, but we moved to Nashville about four years ago.

What inspired you to get into music?
Music is the best. I guess you’ve just got to follow whatever draws you in, and for me that’s music. Maybe that will change someday, but it will have to be something creative.

Jejune loves your new song Amerikan Dream. We think that it is such a powerful protest song with its storytelling and twangy guitars, and it highlights the insidiousness of dogma and critiques several inequalities that are familiar to listeners. What do you hope your fans get from this song?
Amerikan Dream is the most unabashed protest song on the album, though all of the songs are full of messages that are at the same time both personal and political. We hope this song feels cathartic in its indictment of American hypocrisy and all the ghosts of our past we haven’t fully reckoned with.

The theme of rebellion can be felt easily in the Amerikan Dream. Did this rebellion stem from the country's recent political agenda? What inspired you to make this song?
This song was a long songwriting journey for me. It began in early 2017 as an anti-Trump song, but like many, this moment has caused me to reflect deeper and see how our problems didn’t start with one man. It didn’t feel honest to just criticize the symptom without talking about the disease. The United States is a nation with lofty ideals that we as a nation have never quite lived up to, and in fact, most of our economic prosperity and stature in the world has been built on the worst kinds of atrocity and exploitation, specifically of Black and Indigenous people of color.

What is the importance of using music as a rebellion?
Music has always been a good vehicle for rebellion. Either through new and offensive sounds or by being familiar honey that lets a message go down smoothly. We still have a few conservative fans out there, and I hope they find themselves bopping along to these tunes and getting that message subconsciously. A girl can dream, can’t she?

What are the key elements for making a powerful protest song?
Any successful song just needs to ring true. Not so much literally “true”, but true on a spiritual or emotional level, and true over time. Is there something about this song that will still resonate 20-50 years from now? I think it’s a difficult format that requires a good deal of care to avoid the inherent traps and pitfalls. We expect music to move us emotionally and spiritually, so focusing on appeals to the heart rather than the head works best.

In the 60s many protest songs were being written and published. Why do you think we don’t come across as many protest songs now?
I think there has been a resurgence of the protest song since 2016, and 2020 is about the blow the floodgates wide open. I hear from folks who were around in the 60’s that this current moment is pretty close. People are afraid for their lives due to a pandemic and it feels like culture and politics are creating so much friction that it might explode. There’s a whole new civil rights movement happening, with seemingly just as much violent opposition from both terrorists and the state. The masks are off and the usual niceties are out the window, so people stop caring whether their music offends some people. It seems trivial or even sacrilegious to not write honestly about the times.

Economic inequality is a big problem these days. Do you want to show that by using a dollar bill for the lyric video? Is this a metaphor?
Yes? I’m not sure how this idea came to me… I think I was working on a piece of art for the single based on a dollar bill and then realized I wasn’t on tour anymore and I could try to learn how to animate it. It was a lot of work, but I’m glad I know how to do that now.

In the lyrics of Amerikan Dream, you state, "What will the people do? When we have nothing to lose?" Recently, many things happened in the country, such as BLM protests and the inequalities that came with the pandemic. Do you have hope for the political situation of the country or do you think there's nothing to lose? Is change still possible?
I think we are always hopeful that things could get just desperate enough that everyone will demand real change, and then put it behind us. That remains to be seen, but this pandemic, BLM, and the current political climate around this president could be that crucial moment if we want it to be. It does feel like we are at a moment where we have nothing to lose, but “what will the people do?” really is meant as a hopeful question. I hope the song makes people think about what they would do.

We learned that you do voter registration pushes through nonprofit voter registration group HeadCount at your shows. Why is this important to you?
Well, we haven’t played a live show in over 6 months now, but we recently teamed up with HeadCount on our latest music video for “Broken Record” that has crowdsourced signs with folks saying why they vote. Voting is so important this year and every year. Please vote.

This November might be one of the biggest elections of our lives. How do you try to get your fans excited about voting and making a difference?
Well, for the first time ever, we endorsed a candidate for president. We tend to encourage voting but stop short of actually making an endorsement, but this year is like no other year and it’s looking like if we want a change, and we want to know about it in a timely manner, it will need to be a landslide. That’s why we announced our support for Biden/Harris - they aren’t our favorites, by a long shot, but they are our ticket out of this current circle of hell, and that’s good enough for me for now.

Country music is often thought to be the favor of conservative voters. How do you navigate being a more liberal band with a more conservative sound? Are your fans from all sides?
We maybe used to have a more traditional sound, back when we played string band instruments exclusively, but we have steadily morphed over the years into something else. Some of those more conservative fans have come along with us, some we have lost by being so outspoken about politics in recent years, but it’s not something we lose sleep over.

You are using your band as a platform for activism. You are passionate about truth and you showed that with your music. What are the pitfalls of this as a band in the music industry?
You’re probably lookin’ at it. Especially in a town like Nashville, I don’t think honesty gets you very far. I have to hope that honesty in the music helps it find its audience because fans respond to that authenticity, but on the industry side, honesty is a liability, and “authenticity” is a commodity to be manufactured.

You suggest dismantling the dogma within ourselves for changing. What are the best ways for this?
White folks need to be reading books on anti-racism, especially by Black authors. Men need to educate themselves about sexism and misogyny. Cis folks need to get curious about other gender identities and expressions. We all have blind spots and there are ways to adjust our mirrors to avoid running into people around us and causing damage all the time. Especially people who are already being oppressed by systems all day everyday.

How has the pandemic impacted you and your music?

The pandemic has completely stopped all normal operations for our business since we made our living almost entirely through touring. As a creative person, I’m enjoying time to go inward, but it could be the end of business as we know it.

How are you staying positive during shelter in place?
I’ve been focusing on trying to do the things I could never do before when I was away from home most of the year. I started a garden, I’ve been doing the sourdough thing, l am learning to cook Indian food, getting regular exercise and time in nature, and generally having a routine and listening to my body and mental health.

What is your motto in life?
My bandmates would say my catchphrase is: “get into it” - which is a thing I use in both positive and negative circumstances - I guess it kind of translates as both “it is what it is” and “make it work”. I’m pretty adaptable, so when the pandemic came I decided to do just that.

To learn more about Front Country please follow them via the below accounts:

Impossible World Album
www.frontcountryband.com
Facebook: FrontCountrySF
Instagram: frontcountrysf
Twitter: FrontCountrySF

Dismantling The American Dogma With Front Country