Ask anyone who knows me well what style of music I hate most, and "country" is likely to come up. I joke around, saying it's "straight from the pit of hell" (which is funny since I'm a death metal fan!). And now along comes this newest album by Sixteen Horsepower--one of the new breed of alt.country bands, one that actually seems to be hunched over at the edge of hell, kicking hot coals with scuffed boots, faces aglow with the flickering flames a little ways off....yet desperately crooning songs of allegiance to the awesome Lord. Yes, there is an extraordinary sense of the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit in these here lyrics:
Hey boy
Look straight at the sun
To the center you make a dead run
You're gonna halfta cut off both my hands
I got pride as big as Dixieland
I wanna sit where the velvet is red yes an'
where can I lay this apple core?
(from "Dead Run")
I've heard these guys called gothic country, an apt label for sure due to the dark themes and tones pervading this album. You'll have to ask someone more familiar with the genre to get the most accurate reference points for their sound, but I'm reminded of Southern Culture On the Skids and The Reverend Horton Heat from time to time. The singing ranges from mournful cries to crazy squawks, and the guitars go from reverberating acoustic to indie rock distortion. Percussion, cello, piano, organ, bass fiddle, hurdy gurdy, banjo, concertina...these all come together for some seriously textured tunes. Production is masterful; it's like they're playing right there next to you. This is for anyone looking for something eerie, something spooky, but something overwhelmingly spiritual in the truest sense of the word. I'll end with some more juicy lyrics, first from "Brimstone Rock" and then from "My Narrow Mind":
Listen closely to me now my darlin' girl
there's one who's out to have you
and jus his breath will
Burn Your Curls....
Wish I was a Bible thumpin' fool
Ye, from the old school
A mind as narrow as the road I walk
Always upright when I talk but
Take my hand and you will see...
5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 1997Reviewed by James StewartAll my love Well it is madness Freely given to you folks with gladness I will not live and die -- no not by the sword I am weak without the joy of the Lord (from "For Heaven's Sake") Very few bands have been raved about by the staff of the Tollbooth like this one. I've been hearing their name for the past year, and the time has now come to devote some serious coverage to them. "Gothic country"…The Phantom Tollbooth 1997Reviewed by Steven S. BaldwinApocalyptic Appalachian hillbilly grunge. Dave Eugene Edwards chortles like an itinerant Southern Pentecostal preacher caterwauling messages of mercy and hellfire. If you need a comparison, you might find a fraction in some of the more pseudo-country songs by the Violent Femmes like "Country Death Song," or in the quirky folk work by The Horseflies. But, frankly, Sixteen Horsepower have a spine…Similar sounding releases
2000The Urban Hillbilly QuartetBeautiful Lazy
1997Phil Keaggy / Wes King / Scott DenteInvention
1996Sam PhillipsOmnipop (It's Only A Flesh Wound Lambchop)
1999Adam AgainWorldwide Favourites
2002Uncle Tupelo89/93: An Anthology
2002Bright EyesLifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
