Brady Street
(August 2022)
Milwaukee’s eclectic Brady Street neighborhood provides a colorful backdrop for the latest album by folk duo Dead Horses. Brady Street, which is due out on August 12, 2022, is Dead Horses’ first full-length release since their arresting 2018 record, My Mother the Moon. The last album charted on the Americana Top 50 radio charts for three consecutive months. The single “Turntable” accrued more than 35 million spins on Spotify and was also featured on the Amazon and Apple Americana playlists. The pair’s select media highlights include a Rolling Stone “Artist You Should Know” mention as well as profiles in Billboard, Noisey, and even independent global news publication Democracy Now!
For their fourth full-length press, the pair decided to stick to their roots and record at Honeytone Studios in Neenah. “We wanted to produce something that seemed true to us, so we opted for a closer-to-home approach,” explains Daniel Wolff. “The experience allowed us to dive in and out of the studio and really work with the individual songs and the overall feel of Brady Street. Because of this, I believe we created a set of songs that contain a wider variety of sounds and textures that we knew were possible for us but didn’t have the chance to accomplish yet based on our previous recording strategies.”
The new record kicks off with its title track, “Brady Street,” a song that took many months to finish, but one that Sarah Vos says she “never lost faith in because it seemed to really capture a mood I’ve never been able to through song.” The second and third tracks open to reveal Dead Horses’ evolution into more intricate places rhythmically and sonically, only to pull away to the live recorded, sparsely beautiful, intimate “Bird Over the Train.” Track 8, titled “You Are Who You Need to Be,” is a ballad meant to empower those who don’t fit into society’s gender and sexuality norms. The final tracks, “Under Grey Skies” and “Days Grow Longer,” leave the listener with an unexpected sound from the band. “The sound is more fun and lighthearted than what we usually create, unless you’re looking too hard,” Vos observes.
"I feel that Brady Street is a coming-of-age record for us – both musically and thematically,” Vos shares. “In some ways, Brady Street is an answer to My Mother the Moon. The latter was written and recorded in the midst of working through childhood traumas and first venturing out on my own. Brady Street is less naive, more gritty, more focused.” Brady Street takes the intimacy of nature and brings it into the oftentimes reckless city life. Instead of walks through the forest, the songs take the audience on walks through the city, past all the old churches and bars with rich histories. Both records are filled with songs of hope and the search for beauty, as well as compassion for others, especially strangers. Written primarily throughout the COVID lockdown, Brady Street turns inward and reflects the introspection many of us encountered over the course of the often-melancholy pandemic.
Since the band’s early days, Dead Horses has been something of a fluid project centered around Sarah and Dan but has also welcomed other like minded musicians for recording and touring. The band's seemingly dark name is a loving tribute to a former friend of the band who passed away due to struggles with opioid abuse. To this end, Vos says, “Our music is about hope and joy, all while sharing an important message that you’re never alone in your battles.”
The union of Sarah’s emotive songwriting and Dan’s intrepid bass playing transcends the singer-songwriter-with-backup-musicians paradigm. Dan’s adventurous musicality equally shines alongside Sarah’s songwriting sensibility. To date, Dead Horses has released three albums, two of which have been produced by Ken Coomer of Uncle Tupelo and Wilco, an Audiotree Live Session, three singles, and a five-song EP.
Touring has been essential to the group’s vitality. Choice live performance highlights include national tours with Mandolin Orange and Trampled by Turtles, opening for The Who at Alpine Valley, appearances at Red Rocks Amphitheater, and festivals such as Northwest String Summit, Red Wing Roots, Red Ants Pants, and Bristol Rhythm and Roots.
Sarah and Dan met during post-college crossroads moments. “Everything felt like this blank canvas back then, and we had these lifelong dreams of music,” Sarah recalls. “It all happened very organically.” Initially, Sarah and Dan resided in different musical spheres. Sarah was at a singer-songwriter vantage point, whereas Dan had previously played in punk bands, but the two quickly bonded over their shared adoration of folk music and upbringings in the church.
During those formative times, Sarah showed Dan songs she had been writing since high school. Inspired by her catalog of music, Dan decided to take on a new instrument, the upright bass, and set out to explore its melodic possibilities. Once together, the pair wasted no time in pursuing recording and touring opportunities, garnering a dedicated fanbase from the start.
Dead Horses is thrilled to support Brady Street with tours across the United States. Over the years, the road has become somewhat of a second home for Sarah and Dan. “Connecting with people at shows and being open together breathes new life into everything,” Sarah notes. “You can go somewhere and feel like a total stranger or a lost tourist at first,” as Dan perfectly describes the sensation of performing, “but once you hit the stage, you feel like you’re part of an all-too-familiar community.”
Birds EP
(february 2020)
Dead Horses isn’t a band in the conventional sense. Rather, it’s an intimate, folk-inspired conversation between two close friends. At its core, the participants are guitarist/singer Sarah Vos and bassist Daniel Wolff. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based pair’s musicality, emotionality, and ambitions have sent them on a winding journey in music.
Today, the dialogue continues with an upcoming five-song EP, out February 7th, to be preceded by three singles and supported by a six-week tour.
“There is a lot vulnerability in what we do,” Dan acknowledges. “We share in this very personal expression, and we have a common bond in our personal goals.” Sarah adds: "We are both running towards this dream of doing what we love-recording music and touring-even when the outcomes are uncertain."
Dead Horses weave together a patchwork of classic and contemporary influences that span trad roots, indie-folk, and other experimental musical idioms. In its artistic continuum, Dead Horses has explored freeform musicality and thoroughly composed approaches. Thematically, the songs are personal, revelatory, and relatable, brimming with imaginative phrases, poetry, vulnerability, and a feeling of redemption.
Dead Horses is something of a fluid project centered around Sarah and Dan but throughout the years has welcomed other like-minded musicians for recording and touring. The band's name is a loving tribute to a former friend of the band who passed away due to struggles with opioid abuse. To this end, Sarah says: “Our music is about hope and joy, and sharing a message that you’re never alone.”
The union of Sarah’s emotive songwriting with Dan’s intrepid bass playing transcends the singer-songwriter-with-backup-musicians paradigm. Dan’s adventurous musicality equally shines alongside Sarah’s songwriting sensibility. To date, Dead Horses has released three albums—two which have been produced by Ken Coomer of Uncle Tupelo/Wilco—an Audiotree Live Session, three singles, and a two-song EP.
Along the way, Dead Horses has charted on the Americana Top 50 radio charts for three months, accrued over 20 million spins on Spotify for the single “Turntable” which was also featured on Amazon and Apple “Americana”playlists. The pair’s select press highlights include a Rolling Stone "Artist You Should Know" mention, and profiles in Billboard, Noisey, and even Democracy Now!
Touring has been essential to the group’s vitality, and these days Dan and Sarah average 120 dates per year. Choice live performance highlights include national tours with Mandolin Orange, Tramped by Turtles, opening for The Who, and appearances at Red Rocks Amphitheater, and at festivals such as Northwest String Summit, Red Wing Roots, Red Ants Pants, and Bristol Rhythm and Roots.
Sarah and Dan met during post-college crossroads moments. “Everything felt like this blank canvas back then, and we had these lifelong dreams of music,” Sarah recalls. “It all happened organically.”
Initially, the two resided in different musical spheres. Sarah was coming from a singer-songwriter vantage point; Dan had previously played in punk bands; but the two bonded over folk music and a shared upbringing in the church.
During those formative times, Sarah showed Dan songs she had been writing since high school. Inspired by her catalog of music, Dan decided to take on a new instrument, the upright bass, and set out to explore its melodic possibilities. Once together, the pair wasted no time in pursuing recording and touring opportunities, garnering a dedicated fanbase from the start.
Dead Horses’ latest release will be a trio of singles that will be bundled with two other songs and released as a five-song EP. The plan to release a series of singles allows the duo to express a more eclectic side of its personality, and not be tied to notions of long-player cohesion. In keeping with this experimental spirit, Dan and Sarah also opted to self-produce these tracks.
With these five tracks, Dead Horses showcase different facets of its creativity. On the single “Family Tapes” an essentialized folk tune is delicately textured by harmony vocals and bowed double bass. The song’s evocative title is literal and explores how family memories were captured previous to the days of heavily curated and edited social media posts. The hauntingly beautiful single “A Mighty Storm” captures those moments when we feel helpless to console those who we care for most in times of crises. The song’s stirring narrative is enhanced by powerful guitar rhythmic accompaniment and rousing ethereal double bass textures that crop up in the second half of the arrangement.
The melancholy melodic, single “Birds Can Write The Chorus” is a dip into the symphony of sounds nature presents daily. Beyond that, it’s a song of acceptance—be where your feet are and enjoy the music all around you. The remaining EP songs are the courageously vulnerable “All I Ever Wanted” and “Hollywood,” which is the first instrumental track Dan and Sarah have recorded. The track showcases their intuitive musicality.
Dead Horses will support its EP with a six-week tour in late February which will include select shows with The Brother Brothers and Kate Rhudy. Since the beginning, the road has been almost a second home for Sarah and Dan. “Connecting with people at shows, and being open together breathes new life into everything,” Sarah notes. Dan concludes: “You can go somewhere and feel like a stranger or a tourist at first, but once you hit the stage, you feel like you’re part of a community.”
My Mother the Moon
(APRIL 2018)
At fifteen, Dead Horses frontwoman Sarah Vos’ world turned upside down. Raised in a strict, fundamentalist home, Vos lost everything when she and her family were expelled from the rural Wisconsin church where her father had long served as pastor.
“My older brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and my twin had mental illnesses and cognitive disabilities,” explains Vos. “When the church kicked us out, they basically told my dad, ‘If you can’t lead your family, how can you lead your church?’”
What happened next is the story of Dead Horses’ stunning new album, ‘My Mother the Moon,' a record full of trauma and triumph, despair and hope, pain and resilience. Blending elements of traditional roots with modern indie folk, the songs are both familiar and unexpected, unflinchingly honest in their portrayal of modern American life, yet optimistic in their unshakable faith in brighter days to come. Earthy and organic, Dead Horses’ songs often reveal themselves to be exercises in empathy and outreach; not only to find meaning in the struggles Vos endured, but also to embrace kindred souls on their own personal journeys of self-discovery.
“At the time we were expelled, we lived in the church’s parish house,” explains Vos. “Suddenly, my father was unemployed and my family was homeless. My parents couldn’t afford insurance for the medical care my siblings needed. We were kicked out and completely abandoned.”
However, Vos’ love of music carried on after she left the church.
“Almost half of those services [were] just singing hymns,” she reflected in a recent interview. “I also went to a parochial school, so I had to memorize hymns and Bible verses all day, too. When I really look back, before I had the chance to explore music on my own, that was really central. Even the way I write songs [today] is reminiscent of hymns. That’s maybe why I was so drawn to folk music to begin with: it’s geared towards communities singing it together.”
By the time Vos turned 18, her family had begun to get back on their feet. She headed to Milwaukee for college, and there, came to terms with revelations about her sexuality that her religious upbringing had forced her to repress. The mix of freedom and relief and shame and guilt was overwhelming, and a depressive breakdown ensued.
“I couldn’t take care of myself,” she remembers. “I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t do anything. I stopped going to classes, and then I dropped out altogether and moved back home to Oshkosh. That’s where I met Dan.”
When bassist Daniel Wolff and Vos first started playing music together, it felt as if the clouds had finally parted. Vos introduced songs she’d been writing since high school open mics, Wolff learned a new instrument for the band (the double bass), and within months, they had earned a devoted local following. Regular gigs led to steady residencies led to regional touring and their first recordings. Two of the band’s original members ultimately left the group due to opioid addictions (“I still see the pawn shop sticker every time I look at my guitar tuner,” remembers Vos), but the Dead Horses moniker the pair created as a tribute to a friend who’d over-dosed from heroin stuck even after their departure.
When it came time to record ‘My Mother the Moon,’ Vos and Wolff traded Wisconsin for Nashville to collaborate once again with producer/drummer Ken Coomer (Wilco, Uncle Tupelo). Cut primarily live in the studio over the course of two weeks, the album is raw and understated, drawing its potency from the power intimacy and hushed revelation. With a sound that calls to mind everything from Joni Mitchell to Gillian Welch, Vos draws on a Biblical lexicon in her lyrics, but the gospel of Dead Horses belongs to no particular religion. Instead, these are songs of the people, stories of Vos’ own efforts to come to terms with her turbulent upbringing as well as stories of the men and women she grew up with in a rural America.
“As much as I want to express the narrative of my own life within the lyrics, this album is also naturally very reflective of what I’m observing every day on the road,” Vos explains. “One of the hardest things in life is watching your family suffer, to be so close but unable to ease their pain. Visiting my siblings in psych wards hurt me in a way that I'm still not sure I've made sense of. While I can look back now and say that it maybe wasn’t conducive to me developing in a healthy way as a young person, I can see that it instilled such a sense of empathy in me. As much as that can feel like a weakness sometimes, I think it’s also a great gift. An essential part of any Dead Horses song or show is that sense of compassion for strangers.”
On the gently fingerpicked “Swinger in the Trees,” Vos uses a Robert Frost poem as a jumping off point to explore the ways in which we isolate ourselves, while the waltzing “My Many Days” reckons with how we find fulfillment with our limited time on this Earth, and the tender “Darling Dear” comes to terms with the fact that our closest loved ones will always, in some ways, remain a mystery to us. Even when Vos approaches the political, as she does on “Modern Man” and “American Poor,” she does so on a very personal scale.
“Poverty doesn’t discriminate,” she reflects. “If you’re poor, you’re poor, but there are a lot of ways to be poor. You can be poor in spirit or poor in knowledge. Ignorance is one of the deepest kinds of poverty.”
Perhaps the album’s most arresting moment arrives with closer “Ain’t No Difference,” a heartbreaking, elegantly orchestrated track that swings manically between major and minor keys. Inspired by a vivid memory of a night of bitter conflict in her childhood home, Vos sings, “The house is gone now / It’s an empty lot now / There ain’t no difference.”
Far from obliterating the past, though, ‘My Mother the Moon’ draws strength from it. It’s an album of catharsis and redemption that comes at a time when both are in high demand and short supply.