Album Notes

“…the mellow bastard lovechild born from an unholy tryst betwixt Uncle Tupelo and Calexico… ‘Wolves and Water’ is one part Texas waltz, one part Wild West saloon sonata, and all parts good.”
--Geoff Johnston, thehangingbrain.wordpress.com

"Blood and Panic is roots music that is pure, evocative and straight from the heart. For those who need the reference points, you might want to start with The Band, The Gourds, The Flatlanders, Townes Van Zandt and Iron & Wine—it's aching and poignant music that gurgles with tight musicianship and images that will linger long after the songs end. The shimmering melodies and lonesome voices drive home the bittersweet tales—and add up to that rare combination: Musicianship And Meaning."
—Bill Minutaglio
Author of "City On Fire"

“ ‘Nourishment’ reminded me of two things: Dr. Pepper and Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas.”
--Lance Lester, bonafidedarling.blogspot.com

“Is it just me, or does [‘Mermaid of Virgina’] sound like the country equivalent of early Belle and Sebastian?”
--ghostofblindlemon.blogspot.com

“The rootsy, earworm-heavy country tunes should appeal to listeners who like a little New Orleans brass with their twang.”
--Hunter Hauk, quickdfw.com

“I had just given a talk to a literary conference in Dallas about how to write about 'ordinary' people, when someone I had never met came up to me outside the auditorium. She pressed a CD into my hands and said there was a song on it I should hear––one inspired by a book I had written years ago. My book was about an apocalyptic moment in American history––like the Civil War, like hurricanes in New Orleans, like tornadoes in Texas, like wildfires in California––where people face the wickedly unexpected with an aching grace. Specifically, it was about a forgotten disaster, one hidden by history and by deliberate neglect, that some called the Texas City Disaster. In my book I tried to give, as the saying goes, voice to the voiceless.

I took the CD and headed down the highway to my home in Austin. My daughter was with me. I put the disc in and decided to listen, of course, to 'Texas City.' My windows were rolled down, no damned AC, and as the song and the heat washed over me, I felt my hands trembling on the steering wheel. The Texas horizon was hard to see––my eyes were filled with tears. My daughter looked on, in silence. The song was the soundtrack to what happened in Texas City a long time ago––the city on fire, the people with calluses on their hands, the people suddenly turned into doomed souls. I bowed my head as I listened to it and then the others, a soundtrack for the things you sense as you stare out your window and watch America roll by––the curse of fate, the sweet tender mercies, the luck of the draw, the tales hidden in the shimmering heat waves. This album is storytelling in the most beautiful sense of that term––stories that you come to because you really need to hear them.”
––Bill Minutaglio
Author of "City On Fire"