Undesirables are full of yearning

Jeff Green | Jun 03, 2010

Just because they say they are undesirable does not mean they aren't full of desire themselves, at least in the lyrical and emotional content of their music.

The Undesirables are a two-man band. Sean Cotton plays guitar and sings harmony vocals, and Corin Raymond sings lead vocals and tells stories. The format of their shows lends itself particularly well to the house concert format, and the 40 or so people who attended last weekend’s concert at the Sullivan house off Bennett Lake road near Maberly were treated to an intimate concert.

This was the second “Incident at Shakey Acres” as Danny Sullivan has named his house concerts at a property that has the nickname Shakey Acres.

As Danny explained in introducing the band, bringing the Undesirables to his home was what led the Sullivan family to consider opening up their home as a venue for house concerts in the first place.

Danny approached Corin Raymond last summer, and Corin was happy to oblige, but not until May, so a performance by Angus Finnan, the first Shakey Acres incident, was held in November.

Corin Raymond and Sean Cotton have been performing together since they were teenagers in Georgetown, and they have an ease with each other that comes after 20 years of performing and writing together. They named their band The Undesirables because they write from the point of view of outsiders.

The lyrics and the mood of the pieces the Undesirables perform vary, but they are at their best, as are all true country musicians, when dealing with being mired in pain and loss and thwarted desire.

Themes of lost love and weather metaphors have been the stock in trade of folk and country music forever, and the trick to making them resonate with audiences is to use music and language to connect emotionally with the audience.

This is something that Corin Raymond does masterfully. Whether he is begging a former lover to come back, even if only to hurt him again, or attempting to put a lost love into perspective, there is an emotional honesty and maturity to his songs of lost love.

Even as Corin Raymond claims his songs really are only weather reports, the audience knows better.

Behind their gruff exteriors, even though they yell a lot, “The Undesirables” are all about heartbreak and loss, and sometimes, albeit fleetingly, about joy.

The most recent recording of The Undesirables is “Travelling Show”.

The title track is about a thunder storm.