Howland, Don

Howland, Don

Endgame

In The Red

In The Red are proud to announce the new solo album by Don Howland. Howland’s been pursuing his brand of scuzzy roots rock for over a quarter of a century, first as a member of Columbus’s beloved Gibson Bros. and later as the main man in the Bassholes. His music is a raw convergence of country blues, ’76 punk and lo-fi garage. Howland was one of the original flagship artists for In The Red and the label is happy to be working with him again. He’s been a crucial figure in underground music for several decades and is one of the American underground’s true originals.  “Howland’s music is a tinnily mixed, macabre mix of psychobilly, swamp rock, and Captain Beefheartian avant-garde weirdness, peopled with weird and disturbing images, relaying troubled encounters and stories with a streak of wild-eyed glee.” —Richie Unterberger

Howland, Don

Life Is A Nightmare

12xu

***"Over the past 3 decades, DON HOWLAND's been a crucial figure whichever crossroads where Depression-era country blues and '76 punk intersect (occasionally obeying the rules of the road but often resulting in a musical wrecks the likes of which few witnesses can unsee/unhear). We could spend the next several hours cataloging the highlights of Howland’s respective tenures in the GIBSON BROTHERS, EGO SUMMIT, WOODEN TIT, BASSHOLES and BURNING BUS, but what would that really prove besides embarrassing lesser artists?   Instead, let’s concentrate on a more contemporary work, and Don’s first solo album since 2002’s The Land Beyond The Mountains (Birdman/Secret Keeper). Recorded off and on between 2011 and 2015, Life Is A Nightmare is not simply yet another raw, misanthropic record by a not-entirely-happy elder statesperson revered in collector scum circles. It isn’t even the easy answer for a community radio programmer trying to ID the meat in a Skip James/Shadow Ring sandwich (though that’s certainly a target audience, if not for Don, certainly for the label). Rather, this album—as relentless, dark, and personal as any you’ll play this decade —makes a compelling case for Howland as one of the American underground’s true originals, regardless of genre. You could’ve said that about The Land Beyond The Mountains, too, but unless you run a prominent reissue label that leapfrogs us in the pressing queue, let’s fixate on one great album at a time, ok?  Future shows by Howland—either under his name or opting for the booking bonanza that...

Howland, Don

Land Beyond The Mountains

Birdman

***Don Howland is best known for founding seminal blues-roots-deconstructionist outfits The Gibson Bros., The Bassholes and supergroup Ego Summit (with Ron House [Great Plains, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments], Jim Shepard, early Gibson Bro Tommy Jay, and Mike Rep); as well an appearance on the Cheater Slicks' Forgive Thee double-CD.  Our colleagues at Matador have praised the Bassholes' "fine unrefined distillations of Howland's various likes, from Skip James to disco, the Germs to Bob Dylan." The fine folks at Revenant also note that Howland's work "has consistently hewn closer to music's great primordial gloop than anyone since Hasil Adkins." But it took some hack at Tucson Weekly to nail it: "Howland is a blues purist with a long list of punk-related credentials… [including writing for Village Voice, Spin, New York Rocker, and Trouser Press. His] vocals possess the raw emotional depth of Rufus Thomas or Skip James, and he brandishes his six-string weapon [with] trashy exuberance.… If David Johansen decided to unearth the corpse of Charley Patton and start a crude, punk-meets-Delta blues band, Howland might be elected to carry the shovel, [having been] historically aligned to the twisted and fucked up roots of Americana music." If you're still sitting there thinking, "Don Who?," it's your own damn fault, okay, igmo?  On The Land Beyond the Mountians, Howland is by himself with guitar, piano and unidentified percussive instruments. This is Howland's music how it's meant to be heard - recorded in a basement on a four-track for under fifty...