pleasant grove is one of the bands i find myself continually turning to when i’m in the mood for dark, dour folk-country-rock - the kind of stuff that makes me want to board up the windows, nail the doors shut, and see who wins in a race between me and the world to see who can forget about the other first.

the band has most recently released on badman recordings (2004’s the art of leaving) as well as german americana label glitterhouse for 2002’s auscultation of the heart. early recordings as well as partial u.s. distributorship are done via dallas, texas’ last beat records.

their take on dusty, forlorn country-rock is built around the dual vocals of bret egner and marcus striplin, whose tales of woe and loss float above light drums, soft guitars, and gently flowing bass, as well as the usual add-ons of violin, pedal steel, and piano. the sound is big, but it’s the silences that make it dense - like a cold winter night hanging over the texas plains.

granted, most people who are not fans of this real “new country” could dismiss pleasant grove as just another bunch of mopey guys with acoustic guitars, but this is a must-have for anyone interested in honest, sincere, grassroots music made with pure feeling and emotion.

last beat is kind enough to host the following tracks, although it looks like they’ve got an error on their id3 tag for solid system, as it lists out on elbo.ws as being darlington - jodie foster — it’s the pleasant grove song though, just fyi:

pleasant grove - solid system

pleasant grove - ghost

and badman recordings provides these:

pleasant grove - elaborate son

pleasant grove - impossible

additionally, the badman recordings site has a large selection of tracks from their artists here, including a (sadly edited) version of the red house painters covering the classic genesis track “follow you, follow me” . . .