Hmm, what to think of this? Creech Holler is, for the most part, the band that can be thanked for having attracted me to the site which I've been exploring and buying from very recently, and it's all because I looked this band up in Google that I found it. The prospect of the music interested me (southern gothic country rock? wtf!), and I was determined to get my hands on something that sounded that innovative. Needless to say more, I caved and made the purchase as soon as I could. Let me just stop by saying that the bizarre fact that I came across this band lies in the fact that I typed 'screech owl' into the RateYourMusic search bar, and this came up instead. How I love chaos theory. One surprise about this album: it's more country than gothic, and it's certainly more country than rock. I have no problem if an album is country-influenced, but there are some spots on here that are too twangy and stuff for me. Even with that said, there are the gothic rock moments that just kill. The blend is almost exactly like I had hoped for in some spots, while in others it is severely lacking. The album art reflects the music very well: mysterious, sunbaked, musty, and grizzly; that's what the music is here. The vocals tend to put me off in some parts, but in others they're just fine. No moments in them, however, really jump out at me. They serve their purpose though. Delving deeper into the album, you'll meet a dark cynicism that I didn't think could ever exist in country music. Dark music is something that we all enjoy, and Creech Holler's darker tunes here show that the band is fully capable of rivaling Joy Division and early-The Cure for the deep, layered "cut my wrists and black my eyes" style (not that the two aforementioned legends are that way). There are even some of the country parts that I myself can enjoy, particularly towards the end of the record. I love it when something you normally don't enjoy comes out and pleases you. While this album has a couple of forgettable moments in the first half, it picks up immensely in the second half, and I have to say that it holds enough water for me to say that I like it quite a bit. It's great, really. It's an album that I can only see myself listening to on occasion, really. The sort of records that need a certain mood to listen to them are usually true gems, and perhaps things will show for this innovative release? Who knows...enjoy the music.

What a great ride. I saw these guys live in savannah, ga a few weeks ago and all I can say is it was really other-worldly. They are definitely doing exactly what they were made to do. While the music feels very dark there is a sweetness present. There's an ancient feel to their music. At the same time it's really fresh. Amazing.

With a sound that's part black magic and part reverent Southern evangelista, Murfreesboro-based Creech Holler plays to exorcise its own demons, but also to flaunt them in front of others, those who don't have the same gifts of darkness. The sound is frightening, but also liberating, in the same way that a good scare leaves you exhilarated and wanting more. With only drums, guitar, bass and the occasional tambourine, the trio conjures an entire history, and an entire world buried beneath the everyday mundane. It creates feelings worth exploring, the same you might hope to find in a small church way off the interstate, where things are strange, and full of fire and brimstone and shadowy demons. Also, there might be snake taming. (Lisa Slade)

There's a long tradition of white rockers who claim to be "influenced" by the rural, black bluesmen of the pre-World War II era. In shorter supply are rockers who pay homage to the period's white bluesmen. Creech Holler looks to change that. The trio — Jeff Zentner (vocals, clawhammer banjo, bottleneck guitar), Christian Brooks (drums, tambourine, foot stomps, vocals) and Kingsport native Joseph Campbell (bass, melodica, vocals) — sees white hillbilly musicians such as Southwest Virginia's Dock Boggs as being on equal blues footing with Robert Johnson and his black contemporaries. Their debut album merges the string-band tradition with electric blues-rock, thus sounding like the missing link between Southern Appalachia and classic rock radio. In Creech Holler's hands, "Pretty Polly" is rescued from the clutches of bluegrass and given the kind of eerie treatment normally reserved for "Crossroads." Ditto Boggs' spooky "Country Blues," transformed here into a frenetic juke blues. String-band staples like "Little Mattie Grove" and "Wild Bill Jones" have a sinister vibe, as do hypnotic Creech Holler originals like "The Gospel of Judas" and "Black Mountain." This is fierce, dark, passionate music that should be investigated by fans of the contemporary garage-band movement.