Robert Lester Folsom – If You Wanna Laugh, You Gotta Cry Sometimes: Archives Vol. 3, 1972-1975
If You Wanna Laugh, You Gotta Cry Sometimes: Archives Vol. 3, 1972-1975 is another magical discovery from Georgia-born singer-songwriter Robert Lester Folsom’s oeuvre of soft psychedelia and rural rock n’ roll, written and recorded over 50 years ago yet prophetically resonant today. Born of lost summers, new love (and the breaks that follow), and hippie bluegrass shakes, these spirited takes to 4-track tape open a prismatic window onto a young artist finding their footing, and are testament to why Folsom’s legacy burns bright to this day.
Lead single “I Don’t Know” unlocks the third chamber of Robert Lester Folsom’s timeless, generous vault of reel-to-reel demos and early studio sessions, recorded in the early 70s while the Georgia-born singer-songwriter and guitarist was still in his late teens. Moving with melodic melancholy and a free-spoken tenderness, “I Don’t Know” captures the down home malaise and sentimental Southern soul that weaves the fabric of If You Wanna Laugh, You Gotta Cry Sometimes. Pillowed by the homespun warmth of Folsom’s earliest experiments in multi-tracking and harmony, “I Don’t Know” is a plain-and-simple love song that spans the ages, as much as an immortal piece of underground Americana that eases the mind even as it plucks our heartstrings.