Low-Country Messiahs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Low-Country Messiahs is the musical project of Sub Pop recording artist Green Magnet School alumni Robert Hamilton and various guest collaborators. He has released two full-length albums and appears on several compilations. Hamilton plays a form of raw country blues using open tunings and bottleneck slide on acoustic and cigar box guitars. The music has been characterized variously as primitive rock, psych folk, ambient blues, and alt-country.
Hamilton released a collection of early recordings, Festival, on the independent Pincushion Star label in 2004. He wrote and performed every track on the record in a field-stone basement lit by a single 60-watt light bulb. Produced by Bessie Wolfe, the album features former Waiting Kates guitarist Brian Watkins performing on several songs.
Borrowing stylistically from Delta blues, hokum, early rock 'n' roll, American folk music revival, Nuggets-era psychedelia, and African-American spirituals, Hamilton is to some extent alien to his traditional music sources, and leans towards lo-fi experimental textures and impressionistic soundscapes. Simple instruments are recorded on unsophisticated machinery and treated with unconventional production values.
The Low-Country Messiahs made their live debut in 2004 as the opening act for Seekonk (Kimchee Records). Other appearances have included supporting Ditty Bops (Warner Music) and SonyBMG recording artist Blanche, a Detroit-based Gothic Americana outfit whose members appear on the Loretta Lynn album, Van Lear Rose.
In 2006, Biscuit Palace was released, an album containing more home-recorded tracks and expanding on the signature sounds associated with the first release. The line-up included Watkins on electric guitar and Jerome Green on home-made percussion, with Bessie Wolfe at the tape machine.
A forthcoming compilation album on Insurrection/Dark Holler Records, Masters of the Cigar Box Guitar, Volume 2, features music by the Low-Country Messiahs, as does a limited edition album of various artists who appeared at the 3rd Annual Cigar Box Guitar Festival in June 2007 in Huntsville, Alabama. Hamilton's performance with Shane Speal, Sr. at the Huntsville event was captured by film maker Max Shores for a PBS documentary chronicling the cigar box guitar and primitive music. The film is slated for late-2008 release.
[edit] Discography
Albums:
- Festival (Pincushion Star) 2004
- Biscuit Palace (Pincushion Star) 2006
Other:
- "Mourner's Bench" on "The 3rd Annual Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza" - CD (Flying Monkey Arts) 2007
- "Goofer Dust" on Masters of the Cigar Box Guitar, Volume 2 - CD (Insurrection/Dark Holler Records) 2007
