georgia’s Horse.

I’m breathing a sigh of relief on this one; when I finally downloaded a track or two from the band’s MySpace site, I was utterly bowled over…only to discover that they’d broken up not long before. Ah, crap… Luckily for me, they appear to once again be back together, which is very cool, because otherwise yours truly would’ve never gotten the chance to see one of the best damn bands out there right now.

Despite my Texan-ness (okay, so I was born outside Seattle; I’ve lived in Texas longer than the President has, so if he counts, so do I), I’ve never really taken to most of the country-ish bands doing their thing around this city. It’s sad, I know, but I grew up with country and have hated it, more or less, ever since. We’ve all got our crosses to bear, folks… With Georgia’s Horse, though, us Houstonians have been blessed with the kind of “country” (uh, kinda) that I happen to enjoy the hell out of. This band (which is basically a lady named Teresa, it seems) is no bunch of Brooks & Dunn wannabes, but rather aim for the folky, delicate, melancholy side of the country spectrum. The music’s often minimal and bleakly sad, with somber, low-key guitars and cello swaying and drifting along in the background while Teresa (sorry, Melly was apparently the cello player) manages to cover the middle ground between Lucinda Williams and Cat Power’s Chan Marshall (with a little Hem thrown in).

The closest analogue I’ve come across is probably The Last Town Chorus, but that probably isn’t going to mean much to you (although it should; they’re very cool in their own right), so just skip my pathetic attempts at describing ’em and listen to the songs up on their MySpace page. This is country that walks barefoot down the backroads at midnight with a bottle of bad whiskey and a hellhound on its trail, like a Cormac McCarthy book come to life.

Never having been able to track down an actual hard-copy release, I’ve been (and still am, somewhat) confused as to what all’s out, but there’s at least one Georgia’s Horse full-length out, 2007’s Mammoth, and another, Weather Codes, is on the way now. The new stuff’s a bit different from previous GH stuff, I have to say — it’s a little spookier, a little more ambient, and even more somber, if that’s possible, than before. Listening to it, I can’t help but think of Beth Gibbons’ Out of Season album with Rustin’ Man; it’s that bleakly alluring. And best news of all? Georgia’s Horse is actually playing again. Holy crap…I sure hope Teresa keeps at it.

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