Album Notes

"Earth's crammed with Heaven, and every common bush afire with God" (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

In the 1800's, European settlers in the American heartland were often faced with a shortage of building materials. So they cut out blocks of prairie earth and stacked them up like oversized bricks, building "sod houses" to live in.

Kyle Knapp's newest and most heartfelt project, "House of Sod", a bit rootsier than his previous "Refugee" release, makes use of this historical motif to explore such themes as the changing seasons of life, the wonders of nature, spirituality expressed through simplicity of heart, perseverance and courage through death and loss, humility and repentance, and the mysterious interactions between the divine and the physical "real" world. The title track compares the sod houses of American antiquity with the creation story of Genesis, in which God forms man from the earth, building a "sod house" for his own Spirit to live in.

Stellar session performances by Tim Hosper (bass & slide guitar), Chris Peterson (fiddle), Greg Lowry (accordion and lap steel) and others complement Kyle's own vocal and acoustic guitar work, resulting in a simple yet full and engaging collection, with a hint of "country" flavor.

Players:
Kyle Knapp: Acoustic guitars, vocals (plus some bass guitar, whistling, percussion, jug...)
Tim Hosper: Slide guitar, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, bg vocals
Chris Peterson: Violin
Greg Lowry: Accordion, lap-steel guitar
Kevin Hall: Drums & percussion
Michael Rubin: Harmonica
Kirk Williams: Bg vocals, bass guitar
Mike Evans: Drums, Percussion, "Sod Shanty" vocal
Landa Taylor-Thompson: Percussion
Erin Onkka: "Mystery of the Gospel" voiceover
Russ Goldstein: "Sod Shanty" harmonica, guitar and bg vocal


Produced by Kyle Knapp, Bruce Newman, & Tim Hosper
Engineered (mostly) at Barnstormers, Austin TX, by Bruce Newman
Mixed by Kyle Knapp at Dry Creek Studio, Omaha
Mastered by Doug Van Sloun at Studio B
Home-grown in the fertile prairie soil

Printing & Disc Replication by IsoDisc, Omaha NE
(NOTE: while CD Baby lists the format of this disc as "CD-R", this is NOT some home-burned project with a stick-on label, but a professionally screen-printed, duplicated and packaged product. Visit isodisc.com for info on their replication standards.)

For full lyrics, reviews and more, visit www.kyleknapp.com/houseofsod
For Kyle's other albums visit www.kyleknapp.com/disco.htm or www.cdbaby.com/all/kyleknapp