21. Milkweed
“Take Care”
Gregg Porter–vocals, guitar, toy piano • Jim Reynolds–banjo, keyboard, vocals •
Zev Hardman–guitar, vocals • Mike Bullock–bass
www.milkweedmusic.com

The fellows in Milkweed don’t seem to be in a rush to get anywhere—musically, at least. Lazily strummed and double-tracked acoustic guitars open “Take Care,” while tinkling piano and banjo stumble along behind like a happy group of drunks on their way home after last call.

“It’s back porch indie music, I guess,” says Gregg Porter. One could easily imagine the three friends who make up Milkweed playing together many a night into the wee hours, especially since, rather than holding down specific duties on one instrument, the band members play a sort of “musical chairs.”
“I sing, play guitar and thumb piano (on “Take Care”)—oh, and I whistle, too,” says Porter, who is a drummer by trade. “Jim (Reynolds) plays banjo and keys, and Zev (Hardman) plays the fiddle and piano.” All three sing and write music for the group. Mike Bullock, an active member of Boston’s avant garde/noise rock movement, holds down double bass duties on “Take Care.”

Milkweed had it’s genesis in Roxbury, Mass., in the mid-1990s, when the three core members lived together in a small apartment. “Jim and I went to art school together, and Zev was a friend of a friend,” Porter said, “We all liked punk rock, country music, Smithsonian Folkways type stuff. We had a bunch of weird records laying around.” Reynolds, a guitarist and recording engineer (Nat Baldwin, Casey Deinel, Tiger Saw) had always wanted to play the banjo; Porter (drums for Tiger Saw, Unbunny, Hotel Alexis) could muster up a few chords on the guitar; and Hardman—who at that time was playing in a metal band—was game for anything.

They released their first recording in 1996, an eponymously titled cassette. The band has two other recordings too, 1999’s “Milkweed” CD (yes, they have two different self-titled works) and 2000’s “Cry Lonesome and High”disc. The group hopes to release their next album, tentatively titled “Farther to Fall,” in early 2006 on the Seacoast label Broken Sparrow Records (www.brokensparrow.com).

After the few short years in that Roxbury apartment together, the three have moved on to seperate towns and/or states, including some stints on the Seacoast. Remarkably, they continue to hold it all together by mailing tapes of songs to one another so that other members can add their parts. Shows are few and far between, but they do play out when they can. Porter credits their stick-to-itiveness to their enduring friendship. “Whenever we have a chance to do it,” he says, “we’re still excited to do it.”