047: The Handsome Family - Singing Bones (2003)
“I pray for empathy with strangers in passing cars, with pine trees, with people in faraway cities. I pray for a world where love is a greater force than gravity.”
—Rennie Sparks
Far from any road, husband-and-wife duo The Handsome Family create beautiful indie folk/country that uses centuries-old musical traditions as a vehicle to explore, mourn, embrace, or giggle at human nature (and folly) from a perspective all their own. On this episode, Will enlists Amanda, Dan, and Rich to discuss the Handsome Family's sixth and oddest album, Singing Bones. Join us as we examine the way these songs shimmer and simmer, and attempt to determine if that's a result of heat rising from the boiling Albuquerque terrain or because we're listening through the murk of disconsolate ghosts.
Miscellany
If civilization ever un-collapses itself to the point where we can safely enjoy live music again, The Handsome Family should totally leap to the very top of your “bands to see” list. Their albums cast uniquely fatalistic musical spells upon the listener, and while they do a great job of re-creating this vibe live, their concerts are also very funny, as the Sparks break up their sets by teasing, storytelling, and jokingly bickering in the cozy way only two people deeply in love can. Their album Live at Schuba’s Tavern seems to be out of print, but it’s worth tracking down for perhaps the funniest stage patter I’ve ever heard on record. (Great songs too!)
“Dry Bones” is one of only two non-Handsome Family originals that’s ever landed on their studio albums. (“The House Carpenter,” from Milk & Scissors, is another traditional folk song scavenged from Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music.) Scratch a little deeper in their discography, though, and you’ll sniff some extremely gratifying covers as well. The majority of them are collected on their self-released rarities compilation Scattered--most notably a full-band bluegrass cover of “Eleanor Rigby” and a shattering, string-drenched rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Famous Blue Raincoat.”
Only tangentially related to this episode, but I enjoy this portion of Wikipedia’s entry on Hank Williams’s “I Saw the Light” too much not to include here: “Williams also recorded a version of the song during a later session with his wife, which he sent to [producer Fred] Rose on August 19. In the accompanying letter, he discouraged the producer from issuing the recording. Audrey, like many people who sing badly, seemed to have no sense of how bad she was as a vocalist, and her duets with Hank were like an extension of their married life as she fought him for dominance on every note.”
Other links
Here’s a taste of the hilarious stage banter from Live at Schuba’s Tavern: Parts one and two of Rennie’s “Magic Balls” story. (YouTube)
Really, any time you get the Sparkseses talking, it’s fabulously entertaining, and you could easily spend a very enjoyable afternoon reading interviews with ‘em. Here are some good ones from The AV Club, Tiny Mix Tapes, NPR’s Fresh Air (you can either read or listen to that one), and Magnet.
Discord & Rhyme’s Singing Bones playlist (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Chris Willie Williams (host)
Amanda Rodgers (moderator)
Rich Bunnell
Dan Watkins
Singing Bones tracklist
1. The Forgotten Lake
2. Gail with the Golden Hair
3. 24-Hour Store
4. The Bottomless Hole
5. Far from Any Road
6. If the World Should End in Fire
7. A Shadow Underneath
8. Dry Bones
9. Fallen Peaches
10. Whitehaven
11. Sleepy
12. The Song of a Hundred Toads
13. If the World Should End in Ice
Other clips used
The Handsome Family:
“Tesla’s Hotel Room” (from Last Days of Wonder)
“Weightless Again” (from Through the Trees)
“Down in the Ground” (from Through the Trees)
“So Long” (from Twilight)
“Names for All His Shirts” (stage banter from Live at Schuba’s Tavern)
“Love Is Like” (from Honey Moon)
Others:
Decemberists: “Rox in the Box” (from The King Is Dead)
Gotye (feat. Kimbra): “Somebody That I Used to Know” (from Making Mirrors)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford: “Dry Bones” (1928 recording that wound up on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music)
Marty Robbins: “El Paso” (from Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs)
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood: “Summer Wine” (from Nancy & Lee)
They Might Be Giants: “Boat of Car” (from They Might Be Giants)
Hank Williams: “I Saw the Light” (10” single, available on 40 Greatest Hits and any number of other compilations)
Songs we mentioned but didn’t clip
The Handsome Family:
“Arlene” (from Odessa)
“Lake Geneva” (from Milk & Scissors)
“Drunk by Noon” (from Milk & Scissors)
“Cathedrals” (from Through the Trees)
“The Giant of Illinois” (from Through the Trees)
“My Ghost” (from Through the Trees)
“Peace in the Valley Once Again” (from Twilight)
“The Loneliness of Magnets” (from Honey Moon)
“A Plague of Humans” (from Scattered)
Others:
The 6ths (feat. Barbara Manning): “San Diego Zoo” (from Wasps’ Nests)
Johnny Cash: “Ring of Fire” (single, available on Ring of Fire: the Best of Johnny Cash and elsewhere)
Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash: “It Ain’t Me Babe” [sic, but blame Bob Dylan] (from Orange Blossom Special)
Deerhunter: “Ad Astra” (from Fading Frontier)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford: “I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground” (also on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music)
Bruce McCulloch: “Daves I Know” (from Shame-Based Man)
Bobby McFerrin: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” (from the Cocktail soundtrack)
Pink Floyd: “A Pillow of Winds” (from Meddle)
Nancy Sinatra: “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” (from Boots)
They Might Be Giants: “Ana Ng” (from Lincoln)
Band/album personnel
Brett Sparks - Vocals, singing saw, guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion, whatever that squeaky noise is on “The Bottomless Hole”
Rennie Sparks - Lyrics, vocals, bass on “The Forgotten Lake,” autoharp on “Whitehaven” and “The Song of a Hundred Toads,” banjo on “Fallen Peaches”
Darrell Sparks - Drums on “The Forgotten Lake” and “Far from Any Road,” banjo on “Dry Bones,” violin on “Whitehaven”
Dave Gutierrez - Mandolin on “Far from Any Road,” pedal steel on “Sleepy”
Jimmy Pontzer - Drums on “Gail with the Golden Hair” and “Dry Bones”
David McChesney - Trumpet on “Far from Any Road”
Greg Hansen - Dobro on “Dry Bones”
Tony Watkins - Bowed bass on “Whitehaven”
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
The Handsome Family - Far from Any Road (this episode only)
You can buy or stream Singing Bones and other albums by The Handsome Family at handsomefamily.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.