Youngstown by SNAKEHORN

YOUNGSTOWN by Snakehorn

This song was written and originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen. I decided to record a version for my cousin who is from the Youngstown, Ohio region. If you listen closely, you can hear a cardinal singing in the beginning.

Hidden Smile by SNAKEHORN

Hidden Smile by Snakehorn

This is a new song which will appear on the still untitled SNAKEHORN full length. The idea came from a very surreal dream I had this past winter. In the dream, I am distracted by the passing eye of a surfacing whale. As I am trying to figure out if what I'm seeing is real, my sweetheart rocks the boat and sends me flying into the sea....And the waves came crashing in.

The Curtain Trade by SNAKEHORN

The Curtain Trade by Snakehorn

This is a rough mix of a new song by SNAKEHORN. The song will appear on the currently untitled, forthcoming SNAKEHORN full-length. The haunting and melancholy fiddle was played by the lovely Liz Brown. Her part was originally recorded for an arrangement of "Omie Wise", which would have appeared on the all but abandoned "Songs From The Old Home" project. I'm very pleased with how well her fiddle part sits in my song.

The Drift by SNAKEHORN

The Drift by Snakehorn


Here is another short song in the spirit of Winter/Christmas. No vocals on this one.

Fieldfare by SNAKEHORN

Fieldfare by Snakehorn


A Winter/Christmas song I wrote and recorded on the afternoon of December 9 2010. This is the finished version with an added guitar line and some background vocals, as requested by Derek Hanger.

Three Drunken Nights by SNAKEHORN

Three Drunken Nights by Snakehorn
I recorded this song in the early morning one October day in 2010. It was put to tape in the office of my apartment along the banks of the muddy Wabash. It's been a couple of years since I've done any home recording...so I needed a refresher course. I chose this song at random and got down to it. The song "Seven Drunken Nights" is an old humorous Irish folk song based on an earlier English ballad, "Our Goodman". It was made popular in the late 60's by The Dubliners. It's basically about a guy who comes home sauced to the gills every night, looking for evidence that his wife has been with another man. His wife explains that he is just a drunken fool and everything is in order. By the end of the song you realize that the wife actually is bedding down with another man. I took some liberties with the arrangement, and wrote a new vocal melody. I wanted to change the idea of the song completely. In my version, the husband is simply drunk and suspicious. The wife has not been cheating. She is just married to a pathetic old wino. This song is featured on the blog, The Modern Folk Music of America.

Knoxville Girl by Snakehorn

Knoxville Girl by Snakehorn

Second on the "Old Songs" project is The Knoxville Girl...an Appalachian murder ballad. It is derived from the 19th century Irish ballad The Wexford Girl, itself derived from the earlier English ballad The Oxford Girl. Other versions are known as the Waxweed Girl, The Wexford Murder. These are in turn derived from Elizabethan era poem or broadside ballad, The Cruel Miller.

Although the lyrics are less explicit than those for The Wexford Girl, the song is generally considered to be creepier or spookier in its rendition.

Long Black Veil by Snakehorn

Long Black Veil by Snakehorn

This is the first of many songs I'm recording for the "Songs From the Old Home" project. A saga song, "Long Black Veil" is told from the point of view of an executed man falsely accused of murder. He refuses to provide an alibi, since on the night of the murder he was having an affair with his best friend's wife, and would rather die and take their secret to his grave than admit the truth. The chorus describes the woman's mourning visits to his gravesite, wearing a long black veil and enduring a howling wind. "Long Black Veil" is a 1959 country ballad, written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin and originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell.

Songs From the Old Home

The summers and autumns of my youth were spent driving around the mountains and valleys of south western Virginia with my dad. Other than the occasional hauling of yard clippings or leaves, I can't remember the trips ever having a destination. Dad's old Ford F150 was the perfect vessel for handling all the hollers and hills. He would put her in low gear and say, "we're justa creeeepin' off this ol' mountain". He never had to touch the brake on the down-grade. We would drive with the windows down to fill our ears and noses with what the woods had to offer. I remember being almost hypnotized by the sound of the rocks on the dirt road, popping and crunching under the weight of the tires. And the smell...my Lord, the smell. The intoxicating aroma of Virginia's hill country has an almost over powering sweetness to it.

We would usually start our trip home around sunset. As the cicadas switched their daytime drone to night-time clicking, my dad too would start singing. He grew up with the good fortune of getting to listen to the Grand Ole Opry in it's prime. Bill Monroe, Patsy Cline and Hank Williams often visited my dad's mountain home...thanks to 50,000 Tennessean watts. Hank Williams was banned from the Opry when my dad was five years old. This led to an almost exclusive interest in the newly titled "Bluegrass" music. This makes perfect sense as most of the songs brought over with the Irish and Scottish settlers were later turned into bluegrass and old-time standards. Songs like "Knoxville Girl" and "Barbary Allen" became the most popular because the people of Appalachia related to the dark and gloomy subject matter. My dad was one of these people.



As we drifted home, my young mind started imagining what was creeping around out in the cool night air. Dad, in his deep baritone voice...almost on cue would start singing, "Ten years ago, on a cold dark night...someone was killed 'neath the town hall light". Chills ran down my spine. These songs about deception and murder didn't scare me however, they enthralled me. I loved the stories. Dad would mix in a few old gospel songs just to show both sides of the coin.

As a tribute to my father, and the songs that he and I love so much, I am going to start a project called, "Songs From the Old Home". I am going to do my best versions of the songs my dad sang to me while we were rolling down those dusty back roads in rural Virginia. Just for effect, I am going to attempt to make them sound like you're hearing them straight off an old scratched up 78. I will post each song as they are finished. I hope you enjoy.

New Album - New Video

The ep is finished and available for download on iTunes, Amazon, Napster and so on. In addition to the finished album, I also now have a finished video for the first song "Appalatcy". I'm pretty excited about the end result. I shot and edited the entire thing without having previously used the camera or editing software. Just for the hell of it, I designed a cover for "Appalatcy" as if it were actually to be released as a single. Enjoy!

NEWS!!!

"Shine the Belly-O!" is in the final stages. The recording process was a breeze. I wish I'd had a little more time to explore sounds and what not, but I'm very pleased with what came out. I tracked all four songs in eight hours due largely to the professionalism of engineer Mike Bridavsky (Push/Pull-Holiday Band-Russian Recording owner), Pete Schreiner (Magnolia Electric Co.-Thousand Arrows-The Coke Dares) & Mike Dixon (Holiday Band). The songs were mixed the following day.
I have just submitted the album to iTunes, Amazonmp3, Pandora and the like and it will be available for download on May 4. By then I should have a physical product that I will sell through reverbnation.com/#/snakehorn.

"Deep Moaning in the Tall Grass"

For those who wish to own the never released first album "Deep Moaning in the Tall Grass", I will do my best to supply. You can contact me at www.mypace.com/horsecapture. For the moment I am putting this album on the back burner. I am doing this because I want to put all of my effort in to making the new ep as close to perfect as possible. If time and money and desire allow, I will eventually send "Deep Moaning" to the plant to have it properly pressed. Until then, all songs from that album will be playable on the myspace page. If you want a hard copy, I can send cdr's with digital artwork for iTunes.

And so it begins...

At first glance the Snakehorn seems to have only one head. As one gets a closer look at the beast, two more heads become visible. Though birthed with cranium in triplet, the center head is the most prominent. When the Snakehorn was young it's massive head was used for capturing horses. A rise against these predatory attacks from the natives of the north country helped break the evolution of this behavior in the creature. The Snakehorn has a very distinctive sound. It's song can be heard year round as it has no mating season. Stay focused and be bold, for you may come in contact with such a beast.

www.myspace.com/horsecapture