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Folklore

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 67 ratings
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Audio CD, August 6, 2002
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Track Listings

1 Hutterite Mile
2 Outlaw Song
3 Blessed Persistence
4 Alone and Forsaken
5 Single Girl
6 Beyond the Pal
7 Horse Head Fiddle
8 Sinnerman
9 Flutter
10 La Robe a Parasol

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Whistling in the wind like a ghost in the desert, 16 Horsepower's Folklore is a grave, brooding piece of dark theater. Outside of occasional relief in the form of a loose French waltz finale and the natural rockabilly songwriting touch of David Eugene Edwards, the music here is akin to a bleak ride to a dusty crossroads where the devil awaits. Reminiscent of the rustic cacophony that Grant Lee Buffalo brought to Mighty Joe Moon, or Nick Cave's desolate wasteland elegies, Folklore leaves behind the last of the band's alt-country tics. The flat, yearning tones of Edwards's singing combines with a spare banjo on tracks like "Alone and Forsaken" before "Single Girl" picks up the tempo with a bouncy bass line and a folksy chorus. But the mood is short-lived, as "Sinnerman" and the bleak, brilliant "Horse Head Fiddle" reestablish the album's desolate, hypnotic trance. Folklore's haunted melodies and mythic inspirations have a frightening intensity that turns this short set (just over 37 minutes) into an unforgettable experience. --Matthew Cooke

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 5.75 x 0.45 inches; 4 ounces
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Jet Set Records
  • Date First Available ‏ : ‎ December 7, 2006
  • Label ‏ : ‎ Jet Set Records
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00006BTDW
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 67 ratings

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
67 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Anonymous
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite to date
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2013
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This has definitely got to be my favorite so far, by 16 Horsepower. Like one reviewer said, it's more subtle than their earlier work. A former friend turned me on to them, and I was lucky enough to see them live before they broke up. They are just as fantastic live. And at the time I'd really only heard a limited few songs of theirs. I am neither christian, nor from the South or the West- but something about David Eugene Edwards is that the sincerity and rootedness of his faith in God shines through on their songs...it rather comforts me. He's not Religious, he's Spiritual.

Probably "Outlaw", "Blessed Persistance" and "Sinnerman" stand out the most for me.
My next favorite cd of theirs is "Low Estate". After I write this interview I plan on purchasing "Secret South".

What I was a little less keen on, though the two songs are funny in a bar boozing, yet tongue in cheek way, are the cuts, "Single Girl" and "La Robe a Parasol"....they are two songs that are COMPLETEY different from anything else on the album. I don't mind them but still my favorites are the other songs!

btw- comparisons to Nick Cave do 16 Horsepower no justice. They are simply better than he is. More positive and life affirming. That Nick Cave is a troubled man shows through in his work. I don't get that same vibe from David Eugene Edwards at all. And sticking a descriptor of "gothabilly" to 16 Horsepower is just wrong as well. Personally I don't care for any "-abillys" except The Cramps. 16 Horsepower is really an entity unto itself that just has to be heard to be believed! If they were around when "Night of the Hunter" (movie-original version starring Robert Mitchum) first came out they would've done a great as soundtrack music for it.
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S. Simmons
5.0 out of 5 stars Great album
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2015
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Great album. I'm not going to go through each track and tediously ramble on. If you like this band it's a cd that you need to have. Fans of this band know that each album they've released has it's own identity, it's own sound - no two albums exactly alike. They are artists, each album is a separate piece, unique and should be judged on it's own. I have never been disappointed by this band and enjoy the varied eclectic nature of it's sound and creativity. This one is a favorite.
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Peter D. Gall
4.0 out of 5 stars The Emerging Voice of Woven Hand...
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2007
Pure tribute to a culture and a sound that has more character than modern tastes appreciate.

This album is somewhere between classic 16 Horsepower and the Woven Hand Mosaic album in terms of intensity and wooden sobriety (both are good traits - just different in pace and tone).

This is one of a very few albums I let repeat for the year that I wrote my book. It makes me miss the Fox Theater in Boulder and the Blue Bird in Denver.
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SuzB
5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite albums
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2019
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I bought this to replace my old one which somehow got a scratch and wouldn't track a couple songs.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile!
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2020
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Great service, great product.
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b. bailey
5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Sixteen Horsepower Album!
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2014
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Such a great album! Worth every penny :-)
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Curt Surly
5.0 out of 5 stars I was happy, I knew it. I CLAPPED my HANDS
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2005
I've been keen on 16HP since first picking up "Sackcloth and Ashes". I'd read a review in Rolling Stone, of all places, that compared them favorably with Nick Cave. That was many years ago, but I've kept with them for the most part. Poverty has kept me from this album until I finally picked it up a few weeks back. I was immediately struck with the space created with the sparse instrumentation. I haven't been able to stop listening to this album. It is just so majestic and pure and light. Like the deeper truths that most certainly haunt this album. Gone is the vainglorious, erratically destructive god of the Old Testament. There is Christ on this record, but he is the Christ of the sacred Gnostic texts that demand initiation before their truths can be revealed.

I had heard 16HP's arrangement of the Hungarian "Outlaw Song" on the compilation of traditional European folk material that came with second issue of Tyr: Journal of Myth, Culture, and Tradition. I was ecstatic to learn of their participation with Tyr because it signaled an interest in the old gods, before the outbreak of Christianity laid waste to the halls and traditions of Pagan Europe. Yea, the themes of 'Folklore' have transcended the "fire and brimstone" Edwards experienced as a child through the preaching of his Grandfather, a Nazarene Minister.

I'm loathe to describe this album as "dark" because it doesn't capture the many shades and nuances found throughout. The album is sparse and melancholic but above all it is Spiritual. In the same way that certain gospel songs are able to command such power with limited instrumentation and seemingly simple vocal phrasings. To me, David Eugene Edwards' lyrics focus on the wretched lamenting in the desert of the man who feels forsaken by fate and by man. He appears to be far less preoccupied with the "mighty, cleansing power of the Lord" this go round. This is the musical equivalent to T.S. Eliot's epic modernist poem, "The Wasteland".

"Alone and Forsaken" evokes more than just the memory and presence of Hank Williams, it also describes a Point-of-view that mourns the loss of tradition and the desecration by mass culture of all things Spiritual. Edwards captures perfectly the pure agony of a loss that is basically beyond verbalization.

"Sinnerman" has a different vocal arrangement than the other versions that I've heard. Like everything else here, and like Nick Cave's albums, "The Boatman's Call" and "For No More Shall We Part", the instrumentation is gorgeous. It will make you weep by itself. Particularly when the piano kicks in on the downtrodden "Beyond the Pale. This is a pretty record that is ultimately disconcerting in its somber themes and funerary arrangements. But oh, there is so much joy to be had if you can just find it.

I am most exhilarated by their forays into traditional Tuvan throat singing on "Horse Head Fiddle" (lament of the igil). Throat singing naturally produces eerie tones that compliment the instrumentation and Edward's spoken narrative and plaintive vocals on the track. All told, these songs are songs to haunt your Self by. If you like traditional folk that is truly mournful and pained and sparse and lyrical and suffering, this is yours. Take it.

"Beyond the pale and beautiful/the sweetest song/the saddest thought/why has no one woke me?/we could not..."
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Top reviews from other countries

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D Sparkman
5.0 out of 5 stars An unknown gem of folk music.
Reviewed in Germany on July 24, 2023
Verified Purchase
The band no longer exists, but this album is an exceptional folk-type album. The music is off-the-wall, but good, featuring entries from Hungarian, French, and yes, Tuvan folk repetoires, as well as from the Carter family and Hank Williams, truly an eclectic mix of album songs if ever there was one!
The cover is fully symbolic of the contents' dark moods, but don't let that stop you. I found the album very interesting, the musicians competent, and I have listened to it many times, though I had never heard of the band before buying this album to hear the Hungarian "Outlaw Song" sung in English.
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Edgar Alan peau
5.0 out of 5 stars Écoute obligatoire.
Reviewed in France on April 25, 2019
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À chaque écoute de cet album, ça me remue les tripes. J'adore ce qu'ils font depuis longtemps, le chanteur est comme habité par sa musique, comme sous l'emprise du Bayou. Bonne écoute.
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Timothy Hawkins
5.0 out of 5 stars Finally the band does a fine version of Hank Williams' Alone and Forsaken
Reviewed in Canada on August 12, 2014
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16 Horsepower hit a completely different stride with Folklore and its subtle slow instrumentation of acoustic and string arrangements. The intensity is less but what remains capturing is David Eugene Edwards' rich lyrics and theatrical vocal approach. Yes the religious, Gothic and spiritual themes are present, yet the flow remains subtle over ten songs. If the band shed their skin of blues/punk brashness, they have been able to create outside themselves, Folklore, strives to be classic Americana. Finally the band does a fine version of Hank Williams' Alone and Forsaken.

Timothy Hawkins
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Peter
5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerising
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2014
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If you see '16 Horsepower' or 'Wovenhand' on a CD cover, expect me to give it five stars.

This is dark, edgy, scary country folk music. Imagine stripped-down barnraisin' American country music given the intensity and savagery of Nick Cave, Swans or even Neurosis. Simultaneously beautiful and terrifying.
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Peanut
4.0 out of 5 stars Todo un descubrimiento
Reviewed in Spain on May 8, 2013
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Descubrí este grupo de forma casual navegando por aquí y allá. Folklore es un álbum especial que te transporta a lugares diferentes que comparten, quizá, una forma de ver.
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