From The Desk Of Ryan Monroe: The Okra Strut

Ryan Monroe hadn’t considered himself a control freak by nature. Then he found himself at Redstar Recording in Silver Lake, Calif., with its myriad instruments scattered around, just begging to be fiddled with. For a guy who can play just about anything, it was impossible to resist. So Monroe took a breather from his continuing role as the 34-year-old bastion of versatility in Band Of Horses to record A Painting Of A Painting On Fire (RCM). Monroe hopes to tour this summer behind A Painting before things get too busy with Band Of Horses, which is finishing its fourth album with producer Glyn Johns and eyeing a September release. Monroe will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on him.

Monroe: In Irmo, S.C., the annual Okra Strut is held in the fall. There’s a street dance in a grocery-store parking lot on Friday to kick the weekend off that usually has a big stage with a band playing beach music and classic rock. While parents are sitting on coolers, the kids are off sneaking cigs and kissing on the lips or whatever. The next day a big parade goes through the middle of town with people in okra costumes and big okra floats, and pillars of the community wave and throw candy to the throngs of kids with their arms in the air clamoring for the sugary delights. There are small rides, okra-eating contests and face-painting as well. I remember playing a gig at the Okra Strut one Saturday when I was a teenager with my band PEAK. It was big deal to us, so we practiced hard to get good and tight. I hope it was a memorable experience for both of the people in the crowd. I grew up in Irmo, and I never saw any okra except on plates at a restaurant called Lizard’s Thicket. You’d think if a town has an okra festival it’d be growing everywhere. Maybe it’s because okra doesn’t grow up my ass, and that’s where my head was most of my childhood, so there’s a good chance I missed it.

Video after the jump.