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August 2003 Pick of the Month

I was an indifferent hearer of 16 Horsepower’s material until my own live hearing of Woven Hand, the latest incarnation of David Eugene Edwards and his biblically gothic art. Having “gotten it,” it was time for me to revisit 16 Hp, the band that has received cultic acclaim for its ingenious melding of scriptural allusions, rustic sensibilities, and rock rhythms.

That’s why Olden, the newest 16 Horsepower CD, is getting my close attention. A collection of early demos and live pieces, Olden’s productions inform Woven Hand, the lyrical emphasis of which brought Edwards’ presentation back to where he started before studio production created a slightly more manic latter day voice of the prophet Jeremiah. The differences are slight but telling. One hears the earlier productions and finds an acoustic ambiance that renders natural integrity to the presentation, the thing that attracted me (and others) to Woven Hand.

You can hear the similarity right away in the 1993 demo of “American Wheeze,” which eventually was recorded for Sackcloth ‘n’ Ashes. The initial recording is a bit more restrained and careful, with Edwards’ bandoneon predominating the aural landscape. A second demo the following year layers a dense slide guitar alongside a more earnest Edwards, a version that I find superior to the one on Sackcloth that maintains the basic format but pushes Edwards back into the echoing chamber and emphasizes an edgier guitar, as though to create ersatz gothic vibes and a distance between Edwards and the listener: the slide guitar moved the music South and away from the more folksy Western bandoneon. Because 16 Horsepower was considered and treated as more kitschy than edgy, the production relegated the preacher man, metaphorically, away from the stage and onto the radio.

Perhaps the most interesting elements of this new release are the live recordings from a 1994 Denver concert. Not only do we get a version of the rare “Slow Guilt Trot,” but also early, and sometimes radically different, versions of songs that mostly appear on Low Estate. For example, the live version of the title song is energetic while the album version crawls in comparison.

The demo compilation provides an unreleased song, “Train Serenade,” one of several Edwards tunes that hinges on a transit motif—something this Midwest native has a grip on, for sure—that is purely American: people as interstate commerce. This piece features a twangy two-guitar backdrop, bringing a blues flavor to the story telling. A true oddity, this appears to be the only 16 Hp cut on which Edwards is not the lead vocalist.

One wishes there were more duplicate demos, just to be able to understand the evolution of a singular talent in American rock music. Even so, these well-done initial efforts show that Edwards’ original artistic vision has never faltered; the apocalyptic voice has maintained its mournful resonance through over ten years and four labels. All 16 Horsepower fans will find something to like in Olden, but those who prefer Woven Hand to Edwards’ other works should hear these songs as a way to figure out what the others are hearing in 16 Horsepower’s major releases.

Jeff Cebulski  July 14, 2003

As an album, 16 Horsepower’s latest release Olden could serve a variety of purposes. 

Perhaps it works best as a collector’s itema heap of alternate versions and live performances of songs they featured on previous releases. 

It could also serve as a study of how their style changed from their early bare-bones sound of 1992 to an increasingly intense, energetic, voice-crying-in-the-wilderness hysteria. 

Or better, it chronicles how difficult it is to effectively capture this band’s sound on a recording. The first section, the Night Owl Sessions of 1993, present the band in a fairly flat production. The second act shows the band more polished and confident, but more importantly, the production captures their searing clarity and David Eugene Edwards’ welding-torch intensity as a vocalist and lyricist. It plays like a bonus to their finest package Secret South. And the third act offers fans a feast of live performances that recast favorites in surprising arrangements. 

One can always hope the collection will work as a showcase introducing people to one of rock’s best-kept secrets throughout the ‘90s. Like punk rock prophets from the backwoods, they took the stage, sat down, and then built a rock-and-roll bonfire that drew the audience to rapt attention. 

I will never forget the first time I saw them in Seattle, at the (now-vanished) Backstage. In what must have been someone’s inspired joke, they were opening for the Innocence Mission. Two bands whose music is rooted in gospel and spirit, whose styles are like oil and water. Within a few moments, they had us all paralyzed, transfixed, with the inescapable feeling that we were witnessing something unlike anything else on earth. After the first few numbers knocked our jaws half-off their hinges and left our ribs reverberating with the resonance of their bass-heavy sound, there was thunderstruck ovation followed by a brief and bewildered pause. In that moment, some brave soul spoke for us all, shouting amazed and crazed from the back: “Who ARE you guys?!!!”

Lead singer David Eugene Edwards remains a sight to behold, and a sound to be heardleaning forward into his microphone with a holy rage, as if letting agents of God’s wrath declare ultimatums through him, or giving voice to ghosts of the deep south testifying of transgression, fire, and brimstone. He can be truly terrifying. He is always compelling. And he knows the sound that works best to support him. The thrumming bass and thundering drums give his frenetic bandoleon riffs a firm foundation.

Olden, their second release on the Jetset label, offers 12 demos as yet unreleased and then alternate and live versions of favorites. Perhaps their defining number, “American Wheeze” off of 1996’s Sackcloth’n’Ashes, gets two treatments here: an early demo and then a wilder, more practiced performance that cranks up the energy and volume. 

For those who saw the band live in the early shows, they had to wait until 2000's Secret South before a producer came along who knew how to capture the impact of their live sound. And that quality shines through midway through the album, especially on "My Narrow Mind," "American Wheeze," and "Shametown."

A few unnecessary interview clips basically tell us what we already know about the band, making this feel like an attempt to persuade us of the band’s greatness. It also takes our mind off the discomforting poetry of their lyrics. It would have been more interesting to have longer clips that gave us some insight into where this material comes from, what influences are at work in the lyrics and the sound, or the ongoing question among those who hear them liveAre they entirely
serious about the furious God they sing about?

Their latest new release Folklore showed them drawing even further into spooky abstractions and strange talespinning, a style that does not get much focus here. 

It is hard not to wonder if the band is cleaning house, preparing to move on to other projects, or if they are trying to expand their audience before unleashing some new manifestation. Whatever their plans, those that discover them will likely be grateful for this uneven release, another glimpse at an energy and a sound that, except for distant echoes of Nick Cave and Jeff Buckley, resembles nothing else in modern rock.

Jeffrey Overstreet 8/29/2003

If you’re familiar with 16 Horsepower, or perhaps stumbled sideways into the band through David Eugene Edwards’ Woven Hand, you know what to expect before cracking the cover.  This is going to be deeply foreboding folk, darkly spiritual, and definitely intense.  It may fit the No Depression format, but that’s a funny name for it; this isn’t about to leave anyone jolly.  

Olden marks 16 Horsepower’s tenth anniversary as a recording unit by gathering early material.  Studio demos and interviews from 1993 and 1994 accompany a 1994 live set to illustrate the band’s journey, finding its voice while spinning tales of locust years, sin, and redemption.  Live versions from Denver’s Mercury Café of "Pure Clob Road" and "Heel on the Shovel" are markedly different from their Low Estate and Sackcloth ‘n’ Ashes counterparts.  Other previously unreleased material includes the haunting drone of "Train Serenade." 

Jeff Elbel 10/14/2003