01	Brimstone Rock						04:28
	02	My Narrow Mind						02:58
	03	Low Estate						04:12
	04	For Heaven's Sake						04:54
	05	Sac Of Religion						03:28
	06	The Denver Grab						05:08
	07	Coal Black Horses						03:56
	08	Pure Clob Road						03:43
	09	Phyllis Ruth						04:37
	10	Black Lung						02:26
	11	Dead Run						03:21
	12	Golden Rope						04:16
	13	Hang My Teath On Your Door						02:35

Release Date:
Aug 25, 1997 (Europe)
Jan 8, 1998 (U.S.)
Apr 21, 1998 * (France)
May 4, 1998 * (Europe)

Label:
A&M Records

Producer:
John Parish
Shane Hotle *
16 Horsepower *

Band Members:
David Eugene Edwards: vocals, concertina, hurdy gurdy & guitar
Jean-Yves Tola: drums, percusion & piano
Pascal Humbert: bass, bass fiddle & guitar
Jeffrey-Paul: back-up vocals, fiddle, guitar, cello & organ

Guest musicians:
John Parish: additional percussion, organ, guitar, and xylophone
Steve Taylor: guitar on "Phyllis Ruth"
Shane Hottle: piano on "The Partisan"
Bertrand Cantat: guitar, vocals & harmonica on "Fire Spirit" & "The Partisan"


Lyrics by David Eugene Edwards, Music by 16 Horsepower except --

"Sac Of Religion" and "The Denver Grab": Lyrics by David Eugene Edwards and Jeffrey-Paul, Music by 16 Horsepower

"Hang My Teeth On Your Door": Lyrics by Jeffrey-Paul, Music by 16 Horsepower.



Sixteen Horsepower's third album, Low Estate, finds the group at the peak of their powers, moving their hypnotic, rustic country-rock into neo-Gothic territory. Producer John Parish helps the group reach their potential, accentuating the darkness and mystery inherent in their music. There are still a few weak moments on the record, but overall, Low Estate is an impressive leap forward for Sixteen Horsepower, and album that clearly separates the band from their alt-country contemporaries. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine


Steve Taylor - Guitar
Bob Ludwig - Mastering
Phil Nicolo - Mixing
John Parish - Organ, Guitar, Percussion, Xylophone, Producer, Mixing
Jeff Powell - Engineer
Pascal Humbert - Bass, Guitar, Bass Fiddle
Ken Schles - Photography
Sunja Park - Art Direction, Design
Jean-Yves Tola
Jeffrey Paul Norlander - Organ, Fiddle, Guitar, Cello, Vocals (bckgr)

1998 CD A&M 540840
1998 CS A&M 540840


Sixteen Horsepower
Low Estate
[A&M]
Rating: 8.1
Back when I was just a boy, I was desperate to discover that new and unfathomable thing called music. Digging through all of the mysterious devices in the forboding dust of our basement, one day I discovered an old AM radio. With its fake- wood peeling off and single dial, it would always play better when I was touching it. I'd lay there in the darkness of my bedroom, trying to comprehend the tinny sound coming out, songs played by the DJs relegated to the radio wasteland of the dial that counted frequencies in the hundred and tens.

One evening at 9:05 PM I heard the song "The Devil Came Down To Georgia" and everything changed. I listened to that station every night thereafter at 9:05 PM in search of the song, my tiny mind seeking order in the chaos of radio. I eventually moved on to other things, but I never really forgot that fantastic song.

Perhaps it was the sinister content, the endless struggle between good and evil set to raucous southern fable that grabbed me, perhaps it was the otherwordly fiddle. I may never know. What I do know is that the memory of that song rose up like a redneck on malt liquor the moment I turned on Sixteen Horsepower's Low Estate. 13 tracks of fiddle, bass, bandoneon, drums, concertina, hurdy gurdy and cello, blended into a thoroughly sinister mix that speaks directly back to my AM radio and the feeling you get in a southern graveyard when you hear the wolves in the distance.

Low Estate is packed with dark, forboding images, both lyriaclly and instrumentally. Moaning cello telling a tale of ghostly "Phillys Ruth," a slightly picked guitar recounting a hanging, it's pure frontier storytelling that somehow reached my ears through a century of waiting. Deep country roots, fed by the blood of our ancestral criminals, prospectors and cowboys, Low Estate exhibits a true American originality so rare in a country obsessed with looking forward and forgetting the past.

-James P. Wisdom





Ditch Digger (U.S.)


i dug on down - for to see my true love
she is the only - girl i will speak of
yes i went on down for to get my girl
an' free her from the devil's world
i hear the sound of her heart a poundin'
fear was the hole boy that she wer' found in
the tears of my lord
yes they run to the ground
amazing grace how sweet the sound
yes i wen' on down for to see my true love
yeah an' i foun' trouble there
but even so i thank the lord for givin' me
And givin' one so fair


The Partisan

When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender
This I could not do
I took my gun and vanished

I have changed my name so often
I have lost my wife and children
But I have many friends
And some of them are with me

An old woman gave us shelter
Kept us hidden in the garret
Then the soldiers came
She died without a whisper

There were three of us this morning
I'm the only one this evening
But I must go on
The frontiers are my prison

Oh the wind, the wind is blowing
Through the graves the wind is blowing
Freedom soon will come
Then we'll come from the shadows

Les Allemands etaient chez moi
Ils me dirent, "Resigne-toi"
Mais je n'ai pas peur
J'ai repris mon arme

J'ai change cent fois de nom
J'ai perdu femme et enfants
Mais j'ai tant d'amis
J'ai la France entiere

Un vieux homme dans un grenier
Pour la nuit nous a cache
Les Allemands l'ont pris
Il est mort sans surprise

Oh the wind, the wind is blowing
Through the graves the wind is blowing
Freedom soon will come
Then we'll come from the shadow