Band Spotlight
The Magpies
by Heather Andres

Roots. It is all about going back to the old school for The Magpies. It's as if they would rather not bother with high-falutin' computers, cell phones and just ramble on in a '57 Chevy.

"Thing's used to be a lot more mysterious a long time ago," said bass-player and singer Doug Mckean, 31, who favors playing live above all. "You can find us online at The-Magpies.com and on the usual places, like Facebook, Myspace and Youtube," he said, adding, "I feel like I should have lived back in the '60s when people just played music."

The Magpies have a musical muscle that must have taken four albums, two brothers and a few in-betweens to build. Formerly known as Roger Hoover & The Whiskeyhounds, the four-piece Magpies have stolen wives and broken hearts all over the country - preaching a rowdy redemption of love, death and even gospel.
The way people communicate may get a bit complicated for changing times. Making money with music has been the latest puzzle.

"While the tech heads stumble at a system that works we'll keep playing and keep up with the downloads."

"We're into Southern Soul Music."

And that they are. Using classic folk tones, the band's synchronicity is clean and crisp while Justin Gorski adds imagination on the accordion and piano.
The story of how Gorski joined is an interesting one. While The Magpies were playing a Van Morrison song at the Happy Dog, he jumped on stage and gave them a hand from the audience.

"I never hear people my age doing this kind of stuff. I came up on stage and played with them, " Gorski said, "I never thought they'd call me, but they did."
If you are into happy, upbeat-sounding, although lyrically sad songs, you will enjoy the ironic variety.

When you look at their influences, you can find a whole bunch of familiarities. But really, The Magpie's have mastered their own special sauce to serve in the deep South and ragged corners of the Midwest.

"The Magpies - it's the Allman Brothers meets the 21st Century. The good stuff. Ecclectic. I love the ragtime piano with 'Girl on the Hill,'" said Henry J. Konczak, the producer of Random Acts of Music, a half-hour television show for independent and original music.

You can blame the whispers of past lives, ghosts and spirit guides, but somewhere in the mix a distinct voice emerges from another time. Good times gone by, where sons and fathers practiced their golf swing, fished and climbed ladders. Back in a time when young girls locked hands and spun on the dance floor.

"I feel the world I understand best is one I never lived in," said McKean, "Roger feeds on old roots music."

Lead singer Roger Hoover's career as a writer all began after the death of his father, when he left the family fence company business. Hoover found himself follow an inner creative directive.

"I don't really listen to music too much," Hoover said. With a family and being a late-night short story writer he doesn't sleep all that much either. " I enjoy reading the classic shorts about the old South, which highlight all of the f'ed- up Mississippi families," he said. Barry Hanna, Larry Brown and lately Jim Harrison are writers that have had a huge influence on the songs.

"I have to write. If I didn't I'd go crazy," Hoover laughed.
You can enjoy four collections: Golden Gloves (2002), Panic Blues (2004), Jukebox Manifesto (2006) and Eastern Standard Time (2008). The latest effort by the band is called Strangers and was produced in summer of 2009.

"We're shooting for the summer on the next album," Hoover said.

While dreaming of those sunny days ahead, check out the Magpies at multiple upcoming shows in Cleveland and Akron while you still can.

The Mapies co-headline with The Woovs at The Tangier on February 20th and at the Water Street Tavern on the 5th of March.