A friend of mine introduced me to 16 Horsepower. I was doubtful because I'm not Christian and I couldn't imagine myself buying a CD by a professed Christian Rock band, now I'm a dyed in the wool fan.

Many times the lyrics blur the lines between religion and sex and sometimes it's hard to tell if Edwards is singing about Jesus or his girlfriend. Usually it's both. The songs will probably not point you to a cloud where you sit with a harp, more likely they will land you square on the earth and into a stomp dance. There is also some profanity, so those of delicate sensibilities had best leave this band off.

The music is some of the best I've heard lately. If you've never heard a rock and roll banjo, grab this quick. It's some of the meanest banjo playing I've ever heard. One song will sound like blue grass, then the next track is pure rock. The band is drum tight and really good at what they do. Their sound is the most original going at this writing. I can't recommend them highly enough.

On the downside, I can't help but wish Jesus didn't figure quite so highly in their words, but then I guess they wouldn't be who they are. If you've got the cash, get all three CD's. It's worth it.

Well Done
I really dug this record for about a month after I bought it. You probably will too. However, I did seem to get quite tired of it by the end of the month. I think the songs are good but not great and the production could have had a more "full" sound. But I do recommend this CD if you're into some good devil-charged country alternative rock.

Appalachia calling me home.....
First heard them through a recommendation email from Amazon. Decided to buy Low Estate, and I'm glad I did. Some of the best pure, spiritual music happening today. The origin of the spirits, though,sound to be perhaps a little south of heaven. Listening to these guys makes me feel like I'm in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. I can close my eyes and visual a revival tent replenish with whiskey, young nubile girls who tremble in fear. A few trembling adults too. The music, ah... the music. Great to hear banjo's, fiddles and other backwood instruments blended with a kickin' drum,bass & guitar set. And that voice too. Man he sounds downright scary. Sounds like he knows things that some people just weren't meant to know.

An Anachronistic Christian Joy Division
Denver's 16 Horsepower have everything that the current irony ladened 90s pop bands lack - conviction, passion, and some damn fine rocking tunes. Singer/Lyricist David Eugene Edwards creates a world of extremely nasty spiritualism with a fire & brimstone passion that makes an agnostic like myself envious of the faithful. Their instrumentation is deliciously anachronistic, employing concertinas, a hurdy-gurdy and some fine banjo playing along with the more traditional guitar-bass-drums line up, with some excellent organ-playing by producer/P.J. Harvey associate John Parish. That they are as of mid-February without a record label is an atrocity. However, a band with this level of raw talent and power will not be silenced by the verities of the business world. Side Note: I saw them opening for Nick Cave here in L.A., and their performance nearly matched old Saint Nick's intenisty and sheer overwhelming power. Nearly.

Haven't liked anything as much since The Clash's
First heard "Low Estate" in pieces on a Fall '98 PBS radio show...don't normally listen to PBS except when the students at our local college alternative radio station are on vacation or too lazy to do programing in which case PBS automatically kicks in. I'm a 48 year old carpenter and don't make a lot of money so my CD collection is quite wanting. Last year I purchased Wu Tang, Sepultura, Motorhead, Nas and B.Bragg and Wilco, stuff I love loud, will annoy my wife and is guaranteed to send my few friends home heads shaking. From the snippets I heard on PBS I decided to order 16 HP's "Low Estate" fairly sure it would meet those three criteria. I'm damned glad I did. I've been listening to it for the past four months and it has definately withstood the test of time. I honestly cannot recall enjoying listening to anything as much since '78/'79 when The Clash's and Sex Pistols' first releases came out.
Sixteen Horsepower's singer David Eugene Edwards brings such a mix of vitriol and faith to his music that were he born in a different place and time, I imagine he could have been a snake preacher. His songs explore that delicate and often explosive relationship between religion and real life, often with dire consequences: "I beseech the Lord clear my head / before once again I scar the soul of that girl in my bed," he sings on "Brimstone Rock" moments before letting loose a screech channeled from the devil by way of Nick Cave. The music is blistering, a take on hill-music that the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion could've created had they been raised on moonshine and pig snouts. --Tod Nelson