http://adamgnade.cashmusic.org en-us yes © 2008 Adam Gnade, licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license A novel. Serialized as text and music. Adam Gnade Born and raised in San Diego, California, Adam Gnade enjoys swimming in rivers and lakes, driving at night, and drinking red wine out of mason jars. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon with two rescued pit bulls and considers himself a better than average shot with a Remington shotgun. This is his first book. A novel. Serialized as text and music. Adam Gnade adamgnade@cashmusic.org Music: Cousin be Strong Adam Gnade Adam Gnade "Cousin be Strong" — I like to mix it up. Play solo a while, get the improv kids to show up for the night with trumpets and tambourines, have a band... keep it loose. We called this one Adam Gnade & the Confederate Yankees. It was myself, Thaddeus Christian--who I still record with--Johnny Askew, Brian Smith, Shiloh Halsey, and a couple other guys who came and went. In theory, it was a revolving, communal lineup but those four guys were in it the whole time. ("Cousin be Strong".... the title's a tribute to one of Matthew from Phosphorescent's songs.) It's about imperialism and survival. Bombs falling. Red skies. Cracked earth. New life coming from the ruins. Pagan sensibilities. Hope. Earth magic. War is in most of the songs, but this one's literally a war song. Some of my people are in the military right now, some of 'em over in the gulf, and war hits you different when you're personally invested. Also, it's a pep talk. A lot of these songs start as pep talks for people I love who are having a rough time. Wrote the lyrics (prose, not poetry, never poetry) in London, finished 'em in San Diego. Thad's guitar part started freaky country then turned into something else. "Something else" is my favorite mantra. "Cousin be Strong" — I like to mix it up. Play solo a while, get the improv kids to show up for the night with trumpets and tambourines, have a band... keep it loose. We called this one Adam Gnade & the Confederate Yankees. It was myself, Thaddeus Christian--who I still record with--Johnny Askew, Brian Smith, Shiloh Halsey, and a couple other guys who came and went. In theory, it was a revolving, communal lineup but those four guys were in it the whole time. ("Cousin be Strong".... the title's a tribute to one of Matthew from Phosphorescent's songs.) It's about imperialism and survival. Bombs falling. Red skies. Cracked earth. New life coming from the ruins. Pagan sensibilities. Hope. Earth magic. War is in most of the songs, but this one's literally a war song. Some of my people are in the military right now, some of 'em over in the gulf, and war hits you different when you're personally invested. Also, it's a pep talk. A lot of these songs start as pep talks for people I love who are having a rough time. Wrote the lyrics (prose, not poetry, never poetry) in London, finished 'em in San Diego. Thad's guitar part started freaky country then turned into something else. "Something else" is my favorite mantra. http://s3.amazonaws.com/cash_users/adamgnade/HymnCalifornia/Music/CousinBeStrong/CousinBeStrong_256.mp3 Tue, 1 Apr 2008 16:00:00 GMT 3:40 adam gnade, hymn california, cash music Text: Chapters 1 & 2 Adam Gnade Adam Gnade Chapters 1 & 2 of Hymn California. Chapters 1 & 2 of Hymn California. http://s3.amazonaws.com/cash_users/adamgnade/HymnCalifornia/Text/Part1/HymnCalifornia_part1_ebook.pdf Tue, 1 Apr 2008 16:00:00 GMT adam gnade, hymn california, cash music Music: Prince of the Confederacy EP Adam Gnade Adam Gnade "Prince of the Confederacy" — Was living in Virginia when I did this one. Spent a lot of time alone in the woods or sitting on the riverbanks watching the boats go by. It was winter and the countryside was barren and dark and icy. Lyrics are about that. Raccoons in the trees. Low tide at the Lafayette River. Neighbors screaming in Spanish. Talismans. Haints. Food Lion. Knuckle bones. Magic hand spells. Alligators. Watching coke deals go down over by the Granby St. Bridge. Was playing with hoodoo spells a little. Coming off antidepressants (Zoloft). Getting paranoid and superstitious. Generally losing it. Recorded this, which is a whole EP of five songs (from four pieces of interconnected prose writing), late one night on a four-track while everyone was sleeping. This was about six months or so before I got signed to release my first record, Run Hide Retreat Surrender, so I still didn’t know what I was doing or why I was doing it. Had to borrow a guitar. Strange stuff, this track. A lot of heavy, oppressive darkness and a lot of trying to find some kind of light to lead me. Would just hang out by myself, drink a lot of wine from a lot of mason jars, read religious texts, and listen to the same old 1930s gospel blues song (“I Feel the Spirit Moving”) over and over and over again. Glad to not be there anymore. “There” meaning totally lost and overwhelmed. A friend of mine called this EP “gothspel.” I thought that was pretty stupid. "Prince of the Confederacy" — Was living in Virginia when I did this one. Spent a lot of time alone in the woods or sitting on the riverbanks watching the boats go by. It was winter and the countryside was barren and dark and icy. Lyrics are about that. Raccoons in the trees. Low tide at the Lafayette River. Neighbors screaming in Spanish. Talismans. Haints. Food Lion. Knuckle bones. Magic hand spells. Alligators. Watching coke deals go down over by the Granby St. Bridge. Was playing with hoodoo spells a little. Coming off antidepressants (Zoloft). Getting paranoid and superstitious. Generally losing it. Recorded this, which is a whole EP of five songs (from four pieces of interconnected prose writing), late one night on a four-track while everyone was sleeping. This was about six months or so before I got signed to release my first record, Run Hide Retreat Surrender, so I still didn’t know what I was doing or why I was doing it. Had to borrow a guitar. Strange stuff, this track. A lot of heavy, oppressive darkness and a lot of trying to find some kind of light to lead me. Would just hang out by myself, drink a lot of wine from a lot of mason jars, read religious texts, and listen to the same old 1930s gospel blues song (“I Feel the Spirit Moving”) over and over and over again. Glad to not be there anymore. “There” meaning totally lost and overwhelmed. A friend of mine called this EP “gothspel.” I thought that was pretty stupid. http://s3.amazonaws.com/cash_users/adamgnade/HymnCalifornia/Music/PrinceOfTheConfederacy/PrinceOfTheConfederacy_160.mp3 Tue, 27 May 2008 16:00:00 GMT 3:40 adam gnade, hymn california, cash music Text: Chapters 3 & 4 Adam Gnade Adam Gnade Chapters 3 & 4 of Hymn California. Chapters 3 & 4 of Hymn California. http://s3.amazonaws.com/cash_users/adamgnade/HymnCalifornia/Text/Part2/HymnCalifornia_part2_ebook.pdf Tue, 27 May 2008 16:00:00 GMT adam gnade, hymn california, cash music