Music Monday: The Holy Ghost Electric Show from Oxford, Mississippi

Whenever I see my friend Alex Morrison post something about music, I pay attention. After all, this is one of the ever glorious things about social media- right? To learn about new things from our friends? I trust Alex’s taste in music so when he posted that he was listening to The Holy Ghost Electric Show I had to look them up.

 

 

There’s something you gotta love about a Southern band that can wax poetic about being from the deep South along with voicing a despair about it’s racist past, be vilified for it, can quote American history as well as the Bible. It’s like throwing every stereotype about the South right in the face of any carpetbagging Yankee while also embracing what we love about the South. It’s a mixed bag of complex emotions that tend to conflict with one another. It’s why I love being from here. It’s why I can’t explain it to someone who isn’t. And it’s why I think I’m going to love The Holy Ghost Electric Show.

 

I listened to their tracks on Spotify before diving deep into a Google search on them, and while the music is good- very good- the story behind them is even better. I would recommend reading member Cody Rogers’ blog before even going to their website:

 

We’re a band from Oxford in Northeast Mississippi, a small college town tucked away in the last bumps of the Appalachians. It’s the home of The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), William Faulkner, and an obsession with a certain gas station’s chicken on a skewer. It’s where a young black man named James Meredith entered the university while the white populace protested and rioted. It’s a place where Confederate symbolism and romanticism are justified and a part of daily life. It’s where we call home and have tried to carve out a place for our music. I love where I’m from very much, and I will be the first to stand up for it in a conversation. 

 

As someone who just visited Oxford for the first time not too long ago I am fascinated with the culture of that town. So I find myself now paying special attention to this band: a group of artists who have a genuine love for their hometown while also recognizing the ugliness of it. At the same time, while loving their roots, they also have a need to write and sing and celebrate it in song. Not an easy task. Not for the faint of heart:

 

I have watched my brother in blood, Jake, my brothers in arms, Will Shirley, Dylan Van Zile, and Connor Wroten grow, toil, and sacrifice so much along with Austin and me. We aren’t special for suffering. Many, if not most, bands do. Like the apostle Paul wrote to the ancient Corinthians “love suffers long…” sometimes it feels longer than other times. I thought about these things while I looked at my frustrated friend and it filled up my heart. We both left that conversation where we found it and went to our room. It was New Years Eve and the next day was the 18th anniversary of Townes Van Zandt’s death. We rode over the Virginia state line earlier to “For The Sake of a Song” by Van Zandt. Part of me viewed it as an omen of sorts. As I laid down on the blessing of a bed, I thought about that song. I thought about the sake of a song and what that truly meant. What have I done for the sake of a song? What have I asked from those around me for the sake of a song?

 

I insert these long quotes because I cannot write what they are saying in any better, any more meaningful way. As a fellow creative I many times as myself: how much am I sacrificing to tell these stories? Stories that must be told?

 

For the same reason we celebrate shopping local, eating local, we must also listen local. This includes not just bands in our own hometowns, but those that might travel through, those that haven’t quite “made it” yet but are trying. That have a story worth telling. I believe this band is one of those.

 

So give them a listen, perhaps they will wander through our town with it’s hallowed halls of the Allman Brothers and Otis Redding soon. If you as moved as I am, take a look at their Kickstarter campaign, too.

 

I’ll leave y’all with a line from their Kickstarter, which I love: “We grew up in the butt of the joke and we ended up falling in love with the punchline. Mississippi.” Well guys, I fell in love, too.

 

Love to all y’all,

 

Molly

 

featured image from The Holy Ghost Electric Show Facebook page