16 Horsepower

16 Horsepower is a Denver-based alternative country band revolving around the unique songwriting and singing of David Eugene Edwards. The band made its name with music that combines rural, backwoods kitsch with edgey, off-kilter country-rock. First teaming with drummer Jean-Yves Tola and bassist Pascal Humbert, Edwards lost the latter when the band relocated to Denver from California and added Keven Soll to the lineup instead. Their eponymous debut album was released in 1995 on A&M Records and was followed a year later by Sackcloth 'N' Ashes, which featured a cameo from Gordon Gano (Violent Femmes) on fiddle. Humbert returned in 1997, with Soll leaving the band and new guitarist Jeffrey Paul Norlander now included in the lineup. Drafting in PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish to produce the band, Low Estate appeared in early 1998. Secret South followed two years later, but was followed by a well-deserved break from recording. Guitarist Steve Taylor joined before this point when Norlander left the group. The live document Hoarse, released in spring 2001, marked the band's first release for the new millennium. In 2002, the original trio got back together with Taylor and began writing and recording Folklore, which was released that summer through New York indie Jetset. A year later, Jetset issued Olden, which collected 12 previously unreleased demo/alternate versions of classic 16hp material; six live tracks culled from a 1994 date in Denver; and two band interviews. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide