‘Cold Fact,’ hot commodity

Why has a Mexican-American folk-rocker from the Detroit scene of the 1960s revived his music career? Because of South Africa, of course.

Sixto Rodriguez released his big debut, “Cold Fact,” under the moniker of Rodriguez in 1970, and all but fell out of sight soon afterward. By the late ’90s he was working as a handyman in Detroit. But then his daughter was on the Internet one night and found a Rodriguez South African tribute page.

“I’m told that soldiers picked up on my music on the border of the country up in Namibia,” Rodriguez says. “The new technology was the cassette, and that’s how the music was distributed.”

The soldiers, who would later stand against Apartheid, were taken by Rodriguez’s tomes of social injustice, poverty and self-assertion. The fact that his songs were slightly suggestive yet able to escape the South African censors helped, too, Rodriguez says.

After discovering his celebrity status, he toured South Africa as a conquering hero, putting to rest the rumor that he set himself on fire onstage some time in the ’70s.

Nearly 40 years after releasing “Cold Fact,” Rodriguez is set to tour the  United States for the first time.

“Cold Fact,” recently re-issued  on the indie label  Light In The Attic, recalls the sounds of ’60s Dylan and Barry McGuire, with a good and groovy helping of psychedelia thrown in for good measure.

When asked about how rock ’n’ roll has changed since the first time around, Rodriguez is quick with a response.

“I don’t like mosh pits,” he says. “Man, that is so crazy!”

Almost as crazy as his stop-and-start gig as a musician.

“I’ve had a staggered career,” he says,’’ “But it’s OK.”

Rodriguez
with the War On Drugs
Tonight, 8
Johnny Brenda's
1201 N. Frankford Ave.
$13, 215-739-9684
www.johnnybrendas.com