Robert Lester Folsom - If You Wanna Laugh, You Gotta Cry Sometimes: Archives Vol. 3, 1972-1975 [Purple reverie coloured vinyl]

Format: Coloured Vinyl LP
Catalogue No.:  ARC140-1 
Barcode: 0840526502110
Release Date: 20 Mar 2026
Genre: Folk/Americana

 ‘If You Wanna Laugh, You Gotta Cry Sometimes: Archives Vol. 3, 1972-1975’ is yet another magical discovery from Georgia-born singer songwriter and guitarist Robert Lester Folsom’s oeuvre of soft psychedelia and rural Southern rock & roll, written and recorded over fifty years ago yet prophetically relevant today. Born of lost summers, new
love (and the breaks that follow) and hippie bluegrass shakes, these spirited takes to four-track tape capture Folsom’s earliest wizardry. A prismatic window into a young artist finding their artistic footing, and a testament to why Folsom’s legacy burns bright to this day.
 Drawing from the same archive of homespun demos and informal studio sessions rediscovered on the two previous volumes of Folsom’s early musical wizardry from Anthology Recordings, ‘Ode To A Rainy Day’ and ‘Sunshine Only Sometimes’, the songs on ‘If You Wanna Laugh, You Gotta Cry Sometimes’ offer candid snapshots
of the hazy yet hugely formative years that ushered in the release of ‘Music and Dreams’, the revered, privately pressed studio album which serendipitously enjoys its Golden Jubilee this year.
 Like a series of old postcards that offer a glimpse into an almost forgotten world, the lo-fi gems on ‘If You Wanna Laugh, You Gotta Cry Sometimes’ welcome longtime
listeners ever deeper into Folsom’s inner sanctum, while inviting new ears into the orbit of a songwriter whose work has always existed just outside the frame of its time.
 Equal parts naïve and knowing, light-hearted and serious, these recordings reaffirm the enduring spirit of an artist that’s kept touring, making music and living out his dreams
until this day. Eternally guided by a golden soul that’s still shining forever young.
 LP pressed onto Purple Reverie coloured vinyl.

Tracklisting
Don’t Know
What Are You Thinking Of?
Sitting on the Moon
Mountain Air Rag
Atlanta LaLa
It’s Raining Now Outside
And God Made the Pine Trees, Too
One More Song
Burnt Carmine
Gene Autry
This Blue Eyed Boy
Little Ditty
I Want to Tell You