Easy groove

Pilgrim's long-awaited studio debut finds the sweet spot

In the latter half of the previous decade, Tulsa singer-songwriter Beau Roberson and his band Pilgrim had a standing weekly gig at the Colony. My friends and I never missed it—and though I’m not the first (and I won’t be the last) to refer to the Colony this way, it was our church. Every Sunday night was a time for fellowship and jubilation and release. For our rowdy, ragtag congregation, full-throated shouts of “All right!” rang out as frequently as exultations of “Amen!” in a southern Baptist tabernacle. 

If you were a Colony regular in those days, Pilgrim’s debut studio record, Easy People, will feel as cozy as a roaring fireplace, a bag of popcorn and a tray of miniature High Life drafts. 

But you needn’t have ever set foot in the Colony to be hooked immediately by Pilgrim’s distinctive, propulsive groove. And “groove” is the key word. It encapsulates this band, sets it apart from your ordinary alt-country-folk-rock outfit. With them, it’s something like magic.

Don’t get me wrong: There’s plenty to like about Pilgrim. Roberson is a skilled songwriter and a one-of-a-kind vocalist. His lyrics are gritty and countrified, delicate and introspective. His rockers will make you stomp your feet, and his ballads will stir your soul. When he suddenly shifts from a dulcet baritone to a snarling roar, you will know his power. 

The songs themselves, if stripped away of everything but Roberson’s voice and his acoustic guitar, would stand on their own. But the spellbinding alchemy that materializes when this band gets locked in—it borders on the sublime. 

Pilgrim has seen its share of lineup shuffles over the years. Guys have left town, gotten busy with other musical projects—typical band stuff. But Roberson managed to round up the classic lineup to record at Fellowship Hall Sound in Little Rock, AR. Cody Clinton on lead guitar, Eric Arndt on bass, Chris Kyle on keys, Paddy Ryan on drums; with bonus appearances by Jesse Aycock on lap and pedal steel guitars and Michael Staub on saxophone. 

The results of this reunion are unmistakable: the Pilgrim groove is alive. It crashes into existence from the opening note of the album’s first track, “Get Me Outta This City,” as if the band had spent the previous 20 minutes slowly nurturing it, tightening it, until finally unleashing it onto the listener. 

After the up-tempo intro, the band plunges into a swamp groove for “NE OK,” taking its sweet time to savor every slinky blues guitar riff as Roberson sings about a “Tin flask of whiskey / And a roach to smoke / My spotted dog at my heel.”

With its mission statement firmly identified, the band gradually eases into a more melancholy run of tunes, the best of which, “My Heart Is Mine,” is one of Roberson’s most soulful vocal performances. It benefits from a less-is-more approach, with a beautiful piano part tastefully complemented by subtle sax flourishes that lend the song a certain quiet grandiosity. It reminds me of The Band, in the best way.

Second-half highlights include the beloved Pilgrim staple “Bad Bad Man,” the lumbering “Bomp Bomp” (titled “Awful Tone” back in my day), and the slow-building and uplifting “Field Day Afternoon.”

The 12-track record is capped by what is arguably the quintessential Pilgrim tune. “Heartbreaks and Guitars” showcases everything this band does best. It features heartfelt lyrics with a dose of down-home poetry, and Roberson injects the vocal with genuine, longing emotion. The entire song teeters on the brink between somber and hopeful, like a tug-of-war between those states, until a major-key build eventually tips that balance in exactly the way you want it to. It has that Pilgrim feeling, which is simply an extension of its leader’s best musical instincts. And despite the tune’s quieter flavor, every instrument, every rhythm, every note is in glorious sync, firmly entrenched in that otherworldly realm that can hardly be explained, much less learned.

It’s called the groove, and this band seems to find it effortlessly. They live in it, and we get to go inside and visit.