Today is the official release date for Plant and See! Pick up your copy here or from your favorite discerning local record shop. If you’re in the area(s), please join us at one of our release party events, featuring the Paradise of Bachelors Soundsystem and DJ pals.
M.C. Taylor reveals some surprising inspirations in an eloquent “Writer of the Week” interview in American Songwriter magazine: “I write songs for my son and my wife and friends, and for what portions there are of my faith. I keep a Bible close at hand; it’s an important book full of lessons and folly and jokes. I look for strong melodic inspiration everywhere; I hear it most in contemporary pop music on the radio when I’m driving. We, as crafters of melody, should be listening to more Rick Ross and Katy Perry.”
The OA’s Walker Beauchamp writes that “Plant and See is a fitting tribute to a man who served as a cultural ambassador for his community for decades and wholly embodied the melting pot that is the South.” We wholeheartedly agree!
Plant and See is now streaming for a limited time only. Please join us at one of our three release parties in Carrboro, NC; Pembroke, NC; and Philadelphia, PA.
We are thrilled to announce that we are now officially taking pre-orders for the first-ever reissue of the self-titled 1969 LP by interracial North Carolina swamp-psych band Plant and See. For a limited, time, choose any additional record from the PoB catalog for only ten dollars more.
We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Willie French Lowery yesterday, May 3rd, 2012. Willie’s music and leadership have inspired countless people in his Lumbee community, across North Carolina, and beyond. It has been an honor and a privelege working with him over the past year to reissue some of his powerful and underrecognized recordings. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones during this difficult time.
It’s almost May Day, with Cinco de Mayo and Derby Day hot on the heels of love, so if you’ve got a barge or dock, and you’re like Merle Haggard, you should consider making a record on that barge or dock while floating around Lake Shasta, as documented in this timeless photo. For obvious reasons, that picture is an avowed favorite of Hiss Golden Messenger chief M.C. Taylor, whose Poor Moon LP continues to garner a lot of attention and critical acclaim.
Spring is finally showering North Carolina with redbuds, jasmine blossoms, and pawpaw sprouts, and folks are out on their porches. So what a happy coincidence that the second vinyl edition of Hiss Golden Messenger’s Poor Moon is now available for purchase. (The first pressing is now completely, indubitably sold out.)
We have been able to free up a handful of copies of the first pressing of Hiss Golden Messenger’s critically acclaimed Poor Moon LP. This is your last chance to own the original, hand-numbered edition with tip-on sleeves. Email us if you’re interested. Look for a second vinyl edition this spring, as well as a CD reissue on the fine Tompkins Square label, available in April.
Happy New Year, folks. Thanks to Stephen Deusner for including Poor Moon among his “Most Underrated Albums of 2011” list on Salon.com. Says he: “Poor Moon represents a personal, very expansive view of America and Americana music, alternately recalling Dylan, Hank Williams and any back-porch pickup band, yet the superlatively breezy country-rock vibe conceals bleak implications about morality, fatherhood, and country. Taylor sees a darkness, and to his considerable credit, he never flinches.”
