Sackcloth 'N' Ashes
by 16 Horsepower

I am an honest man when I‘m not lying…

Nothing plays better than the doomed but repentant sinner man feverishly begging to have his sins absolved. The sinner who firmly believes in hell but is dammed there anyways by his hunger & compulsions to fill that emptiness inside him with cards, whores, and the bottle. Just one drop he says, to slacken my thirst. Sackcloth conjures stories so effectively they have me thinking in black & white, images of a pentecostal preacher man, whiskey stills, and Faulkner dancing in my head. There’s a mad off kilter ferocity at play here. Like they could go off the reservation at any moment. But, they don’t. Now if I can only track me down some Bakers bourbon in this god forsaken, urban morass known as Kuala Lumpur to help “take me home” with him.

This ain’t no Alt Country, boy. This here is American Gothic.

From buzzdainer TOP 100 COMMENTER 03/31/2016 22:03 | #163065 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

My clearest memory of listening to this album is from a cross-country road trip in 2009, when I stopped for a desperately needed break from the highway at a friend's cabin in Strawberry, Arizona. We drank whiskey in his living room and listened to this album on these huge, incredible speakers he'd set up. Holy crap. This is some of the spookiest, reverb-heavy guitar and banjo lines you'll ever hear. The wild ravings of a madman. Great Gothic Americana. (Edited)

From meccalecca TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/05/2014 14:51 | #110888 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

You've been followed to the desert by gang of questionable men on horses, the sun is setting, and only five bullets remain in your pistol.

From Gooz 06/04/2014 17:58 | #113723 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I'm surprised about how it isn't more known. Amazing songs.

The album starts off incredibly well but it trails off after the first 4 or 5 songs on terms of quality. Atmospherically, the album is immense and it really transports you to a place and it creates a great soundscape to explore. This is aided by the vocal which matches this perfectly. Instrumentally, it is varied and the playing is very good. The downfall is the consistency of the music with there being quite a few filler tracks and also tracks that are just decent. Overall, an album that is very enjoyable to explore and should definitely be heard more. (Edited)