The Handsome Family have written
some of the most haunting and beautiful songs in American music. During their
25-year career Brett and Rennie Sparks (a.k.a. The Handsome Family) have
created songs that transform the mundane landscape of modern life into a place
of mysterious portent. As Greil Marcus said, “… their everyday surrealism has
no parallel in contemporary writing…”
There are a
lot of new faces at their shows these days, thanks to “Far From Any Road,”
which became a global hit when it was used as the theme to season one of True
Detective. Both Guns ’N Roses and Bruce Springsteen have used the song
as walk-in music and it is often played at hockey games. And, believe it or
not— David Bowie’s recently published notebooks contain a line that simply
says, “Handsome Family.” Who knows what might have been?
This September, Brett and Rennie, along with Alex McMahon
(guitars, steel, keyboards) and Jason Toth (drums, keyboards, sampler) will
perform their brand of gothic Americana throughout Spain, France, and Italy,
including their stop at Camping des Etoiles in the Aveyron outside of Najac
where drummer Jason has been living for almost a year.
