STRANGE BREW

Bartees Strange cooks up a heady, dynamic indie-rock concoction on Farm to Table.

- JIM BEAUGEZ

WITH REHEARSALS FOR his tour just a week away, rising indie-rock star Bartees Strange is surrounded by his favorite guitars and amplifiers. From all indications, this is the hard part of the job.

"If you could see me right now, I have all of my amps in a circle around me and, like, five guitars," Strange says over the phone from his home in Virginia. "And I'm just like, 'What's going to be the perfect combination?' I can't figure it out."

Whether he's strapped with his Gibson '59 ES-335 Reissue, '67 Epiphone Casino or '59 Fender Jazzmaster, Strange will show up ready to blaze. Over the past year, he's toured with indie vanguards like Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Car Seat Headrest. But as one can tell from his latest album, Farm to Table (4AD), his own music is a fusion of styles and influences stretching back to his youth, when hardcore and emo bands ruled his playlists and fueled his creativity.

"I got into guitars and playing music from having hardcore bands and punk bands expand my understanding of what you can do with a guitar," he says, "the ethos of guitar playing and sounding like yourself being more important than sounding like anybody else."

Strange's music is rooted in the emotional heft of emo, but he pulls R&B and hip-hop into the layered madness of "Cosigns" and explores acoustic pop on "Tours" and "Black Gold." There is also a hint of Fleetwood Mac balladry on "Escape This Circus" and some fine dueling guitars on the surging and lyrical "Heavy Heart." On the eve of touring for Farm to Table, Strange spoke with Guitar Player about his journey to indie-rock stardom.