Dad Horse Ottn was born in an abandoned churchard in the wilds of South Carolina. Or was it Germany? Yes, he’s German! He was a hellraiser and a punk rock scoundrel till, one day, he saw the light. The banjo light. The holy Lord God Jesus told him that he had a song to sing, and to sing it with a banjo, basspedal and occasional kazoo. And, drawing from southern Appalachian gospel and from the depths of his own scarred soul, he started to preach The Word through rough pure honest song. These songs are about salvation and deliverance – they do not carry a religious message but a spiritual experience: the Dad Horse Experience.

So Dad became a conduit of the ineffable truth of Mercy, Resurrection, and Eternal Life, but don’t you evildoers be frightened away by his old-fashioned gospel sanctity. You’ll like him anyway. Sure, his earthly aesthetics were shaped by wholesome folks like the Carter Family and Roy Acuff, but he himself also claims influence by the likes of Hawkwind, Exuma, and Washington Phillips. Sometimes, morbid humor snakes through the heavenward yearning. And why does this German post-post-punk country-gospel mystic one-man-band usually sing in English? Blame the Carter Family for sanctifying the English language for spiritual use.

Dad Horse spent years on the road as an itinerant one-man-band gospel street preacher, and many were saved from perdition and rowdy ways through contact with his banjo preaching. Magdalenes threw themselves at his feet begging spiritual renewal, and punk rockers disavowed their sinful excesses. Happily, this trend only continues to grow. Dad Horse refuses to become a despotic cult leader, and maintains a saintly humility. He emphasizes that he is but the hollow reed through which Godliness is brought forth into our physical world. Let us be grateful, brethren and ladies, sinners and strippers, that we have the voice of Dad Horse to guide us through the night.

Roots blues guitarist Whiskey Bob Taylor has had many labels such as singer/songwriter and blues historian thrust upon him over the years. His mesmerizing performances are a simmering gumbo of faithful renderings of early blues chestnuts by the likes of Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson and his own insightful compositions, peppered with his recollections and stories of bluesmen of past and present, and stirred to a rolling boil by his energetic and passionate playing style. Whiskey Bob’s efforts to present traditional acoustic blues as a living, breathing art form have earned him the respect and friendship of many of the influential bluesmen he numbers among his heroes. The list of artists Whiskey Bob has appeared with over the years reads like a who’s who of the blues from early pioneers like the late greats Honeyboy Edwards, Louisiana Red, and Four Aces bassist Dave Myers to modern blues greats like former Muddy Waters’ guitarist John Primer and Chicago harp greats Billy Branch, Harmonica Hinds, and Sugar Blue (harmonica on the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You”) Whiskey Bob Taylor can be seen regularly around town at various clubs in and around the Chicagoland area.