American Mythology
Back Roads Video(Wings Of Darkness)
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Brendan McCloud - Alt Country, Country Rock Music, Alt Rock and Folk /Celtic Rock
American Mythology Back Roads Video
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Shirt Tail Cousins is a down home song about who we are all related to in America and how different people might feel about it. Along the Missouri River in the 19th century, Joseph Robidoux, a well-known French fur trader, established a system of trading posts and with it created a Métis and Creole culture that was its own distinct entity. The Missouri Creole culture has been absorbed in modern times but this song is a tribute to it for those of us who remember.
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Brendan McCloud from "The Making of American Mythology."
I found that with the new album I was writing songs that were more basic and that seemed to have their roots in American rock, country, folk and blues. I have always had some confusion about my influences since they are so many, all the way from folk to pop rock, from the Beatles to Johnny Cash and every stop in between. I found that the term “Alt Country” was being used a lot to describe bands and performers that did not quite fit into the easy categories but that did seem to have a sense of authenticity and edge that spanned the gap between rock ,country and and other genres.
The very first song I wrote for this album was “Wings of Darkness” a song that all but wrote itself. In this song a possibly dark character on an endless journey down the two lane, black top highways of America, who may also may be dispensing some form of justice (or is it just balance?) considers loneliness after finding a woman, who may be the queen of darkness (or is it the queen of hearts?) and asks her to accompany him on his journey.
This song was influenced by Alfred Bester’s “The Pi Man”, Damon Knight’s “What Rough Beast” and the imagery from Clint Eastwood’s “Pale Rider” as well as the comic book/ movie anti-heroes from The Crow, The Punisher, The Renegade and even “Ghost Rider”.
In looking at the other songs I had “Blues for Prometheus” a kind of blues rocker song albeit with a classical mythological theme and “Fields of Eden” as pure a folk song as you could find about living on the land, love, purity and innocence. As I continued to write I came up with “Days of Fire,” a love ballad and reflection of growing older, “Approaching Normal” that had a sixties pop rock edge but was about the kind of love that most of us experience, hard love.
“Immortal” was an 80’s influenced rocker about, well, immortality… I resurrected a song from the 90’s with a Celtic rock synth violin about the two wars in Iraq which sadly was even more relevant than the second time around.
The came the Native American influenced instrumentals that also came about from living so close to nature in Greenbank, Washington on Whidbey Island.
I was creating another mélange of an album but this time it felt purely American. I had delved deep into country and Appalachian music as well as the other music that had touched my soul. I listened to Johnny Cash, old and new, to alt country legend Steve Earle and to folks such as Lucinda Williams and Chris Whitley. I discovered those last two after all the music had been written but their work underscored the validity of the direction I was going.
Like “On the Edge of Time” I also found that I was drinking deep of classical mythology but also “American Mythology.” I found that my album title which started out as “Myths and Legends” then “Electric Mythology” and finally, yes, “American Mythology.” The album title was so good I had to write a song of that name and did so as one of the last efforts for the album. Finally I added one last song, a down home slide blues tune called 'Shirt Tale Cousins." It's about my own family roots and the roots of many Americans.
Quote for the year: "Back in the day we just called it country rock."
Further Contact Information
Phone
360-222-3164
Cell
206-300-0293
Fax
360-222-3164
Address
PO Box 58 SR 525 GREENBANK, WA 98253
brendanmccloud@whidbey.net
