New York, NY (Top40 Charts) On May 14, Alabama's wildly prolific cult heroes The Pine Hill Haints will release The Song Companion of a
Lonestar Cowboy, their debut for Muscle Shoals, AL-based independent label Single Lock Records. Featuring new, original songs by founder/leader Jamie Barrier in addition to multiple interpretations of traditional folk, blues, and gospel tunes, the album unfurls with raucous abandon through tracks that veer into swampy blues, Sun Records-style country and rockabilly, and cajun flavored squeezebox pop with visits from Satchel Paige, John Henry and Billy The Kid along the way.
Find out why the Haints put the GAWD! in "road dawgs" by watching their new video for "Back To Alabama," directed by local Muscle Shoals filmmaker Andrew Johnston and featuring stolen moments from their never-ending, pre-pandemic van life: https://youtu.be/u1nLpHVsadQ
To address the obvious question: the word "haint," of archaic English origin, means to haunt or to inhabit aggressively. And with a medium-like connection, The Haints have spent the last two decades resurrecting all kinds of music that has passed out of the mainstream - in a style they call "Alabama
Ghost Country." The Song Companion of a
Lonestar Cowboy is the latest evidence of their trailblazing brand or radical preservation. It was produced by Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes) and features Haints mainstays Katie Barrier on washboard, singing saw and mandolin, Stevie LeBlanc on washtub bass, Brian Bordan on snare drum, and Justin Ward on accordion. Special guest J.D. Wilkes plays harmonica on select tracks.
"These songs are prayers and simple meditations, cool shadows to ease the mind in the turbulent times," says Jamie Barrier. "They reflect our love of Irish jigs and North Mississippi chants, the invisible rhythm of the Cherokee and Choctaw, the ballads of Sam Barrett and old Yorkshire. Any kid with a skateboard can re-write them."
Helmed for the past twenty five years by musician Jamie Barrier, The Pine Hill Haints get their name from Pine Hill Cemetery in Auburn, AL, which served as the group's earliest rehearsal space and DIY venue, where they first cultivated their love of skateboarding and combined the influence of pioneering bands the like the New York Dolls and
Fugazi with instrumentation common to local family jams such as washtub bass and singing saw. In the years since, the Haints have stayed true to that original vision - signing to K Records in the early 00s and playing thousands of gigs along the way which might see them set up in the corner of an anarchist squat one night and share a stage with Charlie Louvin or Ralph Stanley the next.
