By DAN ARMONAITIS
Not long after he had moved to Greenville about five and a half years ago, singer-songwriter Vilai Harrington took on a nickname that he’s now using as the title track to his new EP, “Sandhill Shaman.”
“Since I’m originally from the Aiken area, it’s a name that I’ve kind of just sat on for a while,” said Harrington, who will celebrate the EP’s release with a performance on Friday, Oct. 25 at The Radio Room in Greenville.
“It sounds like this glorious thing and (like) somebody who has all the answers, but I really don’t — and most people don’t either. So, (the song) was just a satire kind of thing to show that all of us are learning as we go.”
Harrington might not have all of life’s answers, but he certainly seems to have a solid grasp on music, as evidenced by the soulful brand of indie-tinged country-folk that he delivers.
“When I first went to high school, I rode in a car — this beat-up old Buick — with somebody who was a senior, and I thought he was super cool,” said Harrington, now 26. “He was playing music and would tell me about the bands I should look into.
“He’d play, like, different eras of (Bob) Dylan, which I had heard growing up, but it was also some of the neo-folk things like Sam Beam from Iron & Wine’s solo stuff and Neutral Milk Hotel and Frightened Rabbit.
“Those were kind of the things that I started gravitating to and it showed me how it’s OK to be sad and that you can let it out through music.”
Another of Harrington’s major influences is Americana icon John Prine, whose song, “Paradise,” from his 1971 eponymous debut album, is covered by Harrington on the new EP.
“It’s just a song that always has resonated with me,” Harrington said. “I’ve always like John Prine’s work, but especially his first album. It’s just full of songs that are beautiful but simply put and (which) get the message across without having to use a lot of heavy wording or anything of that nature. And I think there’s just a beauty in that simplicity.”
Harrington’s slowed-down rendition of “Paradise” brings a layer of world weariness to it that isn’t necessarily expressed in Prine’s original.
“I think (Prine) is the embodiment of a working-class but cerebral-thinking American,” Harrington said. “His music is something that I’ve just really enjoyed and, especially as I keep writing, he’s somebody who I just appreciate more and more.”
The other three tracks on “Sandhill Shaman” are originals, including the Appalachian folk-oriented “Trial and Error,” the tear-in-your-beer country of “Hole in My Heart” and the philosophically pensive “See You or I Won’t,” which Harrington released as the first single.
Of the latter, Harrington said, “It’s a song that’s just thinking about why we’re here and why we need to keep moving forward. … I wrote it after I had a lot of friends decide to take their own lives recently.”
Harrington is accompanied on the “Sandhill Shaman” EP by his backing unit, the Hamptones, which is composed of Josh Riley on bass, Adam Bachman on dobro, Joe Tamburro on percussion and Jake Garrett on pedal steel and guitar.
The band “has had some rotation over the years (in terms) of members, but I’m very appreciative of the crew that I have now,” Harrington said. “They definitely help flesh things out and definitely help with the interpretation sonically. They’ve been putting in just as much as I have in a lot of ways when it comes to this album and the production of it and everything.”
As for being a part of the Upstate’s vibrant music community, Harrington added, “I’ve met a lot of great people and made some lifelong friendships since moving here. … It’s been a good thing with everybody willing to lift each other up. It’s definitely less of clique thing than I’ve ever been a part of with any other scene. It’s just been really nice.”