Podcast Review // Henry Adam Svec "Souwesto Gothic: The Case of the Talbot Trail Boys"

https://www.souwestogothic.com/ 

Growing up, I have always been a fan of listening to such things as radio shows which come out like "The Shadow", for example, and there are many of them which can still be found out there on cassette for continued listening.   "Souwesto Gothic" is a podcast in the sense that it is digital, but listening to it also feels how it must have felt to listen to the radio in a time before the advent of television.  There are sound effects in here, which would have been used in old time radio stations, as well as singing and musical instruments to further drive the story.  After all, this is a story of music which immediately draws me in.

The idea of "The Case of the Talbot Trail Boys" is based around someone, a folklorist, finding a record at a garage sale and not knowing anything about it.   This portion of the introduction is spot on because if you attend such things as garage sales, you'll come to expect certain records just always being there.  So to see something you don't immediately recognize will throw you off for sure.   So this record is purchased, along with a BTO record, for $4 and the deep dive into the history of this album and why no one seems to have heard of it unfolds through these episodes by Henry Adam Svec.

As I enjoy that this is a scripted podcast- which just makes me think of it as being like an old time radio show- I also imagine it as being something that would happen to me, but perhaps with a cassette, as I frequent tag sale and thrift stores.  With this connection to music, I'm very much invested and almost wish I had thought up this whole concept.  One of the key differences between this and me though is that it takes place in Canada- South Western Ontario to be precise- and I am in the United States, but I do love that idea of local lore.  If the idea was someone finding an old record and then having to drive from NYC to California to research the band it just wouldn't feel the same.

One of the best parts of storytelling is the different ways in which it can be done.  A painting for example, with the old cliche that a picture is worth a thousand words.  But what Henry Adam Svec accomplishes with this series here is a combination of that old radio show via podcast plus the way you would perhaps listen to music as well.  It's not just a podcast, but it's also music in its own way.  Putting all of these elements together should be enough to intrigue you if you are not just curious enough to go down this rabbithole based on the notion of something which is entirely possible of happening and that is undocumented music existing out there waiting to be found.