All Heavy, All Mighty

"It Must Be You That's Making Me Feel Like This Wet Dog"

It was many moons ago that I sent Wildebeest a message, asking for the track listing of the handmade, sharpie texted CD that he left at my house, since the only thing inside the case was a panoramic, photocopied picture of a herd of steer with a poem on the back.

He had come to play a show with local luminaries We Are Jeneric at CDFI in Albany, but got lost, and somehow found his way to Valentine's where there happened to be a Sgt Dunbar show that night. He asked if he could play his homemade chimes in the parking lot between sets. Of course he could, and he could also set them up in front of the stage and play with us, we said, which he did. It was magnificent, and his musical acuity instantly became evident to everyone present. It was one of my favorite sets, and he had a lot to do with it.

That night he slept at our couch, like a lot of the people do that I post about here, and the next morning we drank coffee and ate toast in the sun on the porch. Also magnificent. He appreciated the shower and orange that were offered to him, and left his CD on our table in exhange.

It's called "All Heavy, All Mighty" and is filled with impressive blues guitar riffs, intricately timed melodies, varied instrumentation, and a continuous but not overwhelming meloncholy. It's at times similar to alt-country Bright Eyes, other times you hear the likes of Big Bill Broonzy or Leadbelly, and it all ends with a Dylan-esque folk song with an accordion instead of a guitar.

It's this last song, "I Don't Believe" that caused me to take so long to post this. I began to write an entry, which turned into a short story, which then turned into a longer than short short story, which I then felt the need to edit over and over since I am in no ways a writer and therefor unconfident in such ventures. If you are interested in reading it however, you can do so here. It goes somewhat chronologically through the song, and listening to the song first might help make more sense of the scattered story. Be easy on me, it's my first time.

"All Heavy, All Might" is an 8 track disc that you could probably get from him if you asked nicely. He also has others recordings of varying styles, some on tape, that you could also probably get from him. You can do so on his myspace or at shows.

mp3: Wildebeest - I Don't Believe (That We Have Met)
mp3: Wildebeest - Host and Hostage

Wildebeest Myspace