There's an old saying that goes "sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you" and that saying seemed strangely appropriate when applied to The Dad Horse Experience's album "Dead Dog On A Highway". I thought I was doing a review when, in fact, I was being brainwashed.
For those of you unfamiliar with The Dad Horse Experience, I shall recap. The Dad Horse Experience is part one man band – though featuring some musical assistance on this album – and part redemption road gospel show born forth of the mind and body of Dad Horse Ottn. With his banjo often to the fore, he walks the world and sees things that few others see with the title track being as good an example of his skewed sensibilities as you can get as he recounts the fate of dead animals by the roadside.
On this album, there is much more than diversity on show. "Kingdom It Will Come" might well suggest a song about judgment day but, if it is, it is a truly surreal one featuring lyrics like "…Ah dead babies singing in the sky a song of marshmallow and apple pie". Offbeat murder ballads are familiar topics for the Dad Horse Experience but, even by those warped standards, "Tella Me Lord" is a bizarre one. If you recover from that, then a reflection on the economics of touring follows ("Merchandise Song").
Another unexpected twist comes in "The Party" with the introduction of a cheesy drum machine that makes a return visit with, of all things, a big muscular electric guitar for company. I've got to admit that did raise a big smile for there is clearly no stopping the Dad Horse Experience in their attempt to knock you off balance. Nothing other than a full on piece of bleak gospel could follow that and duly we get not only the shadowy "Waiting At The Turnpike" but also the wildly over the top "He Is My Song And My Story".
The Dad Horse Experience is certainly an experience and a unique one at that. As strange as this album might well be, you've got to respect someone who follows their own path. It's not often that you can say that a dead dog on a highway would make you happy but "Dead Dog On A Highway" made me happy.