Shooter Jennings
Jan 18, 2010
Country rocker Shooter Jennings has formed a new band, Hierophant, but don't expect to hear a whole lot of fiddle and steel guitar on their upcoming album. The CD, called "Black Ribbons," hits stores on March 2nd on Black Rock Records/Rocket Science Ventures.
The album has been described as a "mind-blowing 70-minute opus that completely obliterates genre distinctions." Shooter has even invited author Stephen King to narrate the "musical tale," as the character named "Will O' The Wisp," a radio talk show host that is being quieted by government censorship.
Jennings said, "Once the idea of using him popped in my head, it kind of stayed and never varied. I wrote a script and I sent it to him, and then he took that and he rewrote it and changed it and added quite a lot of great stuff, so at the end of the day, that part of it was a collaboration. He was supportive of what I'd written and liked the voice that I had given the character. I sent it to him and a couple of weeks later, I had a package at my doorstep with a CD, a typed-out transcript and a picture of him doing it."
Jennings came up with the concept of the album listening to the radio as the nation's economic crisis began to hit in 2008. He heard the predictions people were making, some even saying it could be the end of the United States as we know it.
"It seems like we're losing our freedoms and a lot of our rights day by day based on the things that have happened in the world," he said. "But I think that the overall message of the record is a positive one, that truth and love and the connection between two people is something that no matter what happens in the world, it can't be touched."
Get a sneak peak of the song "Wake Up" from "Black Ribbons" at www.myspace.com/shooterjennings.
By: Mary Lynne O'Neal