“i write songs for those who see the face of god in dirt and rust and broken things. for those who love desolation and who make of it ceremony and song. for those who bear memory’s weight and who count the days of their youth in the blinking lights of distant radio towers and deserted intersections. who read in the crumbling names of towns on water towers the dispatches of passing seasons and forgotten heartbeats. for those who in dreams find great and unknowable mystery. who love words that sound upon their lips like secrets and sighs.”
The above is taken from Jeff Zentner myspace profile. I found those words so beautiful that I read them again and again….The imagery is what got to me….which is what good writing, song writing, and music in general is supposed to accomplish, right? It makes you feel, it transports you to somewhere else….a memory, or a place in time perhaps.
Jeff’s solo work definately reminds me of something from the past…On his album “Hymns to the Darkness”, he combines guitar, slide guitar, dobro, banjo, pedal steel, lap steel, mandolin, cello, piano, and organ to form some truly wonderful songs that have a twing of Appalachia about them. His southern roots definately come through in his music.
This talented Ashville, NC based musician is also part of the band Creech Holler. Jeff is on vocals, Clawhammer and the Bottleneck Guitar. Definately check these guys out if you like your bluesy southern rock.
“…a Tennessee-based trio who do this crazed amalgamation of old-time ballads set to loud, grungy blues rock. It’s very dark and eerie and completely satisfying.”
–MOUNTAIN XPRESS, Asheville NC
Check out their myspace here.
Jeff was kind enough to grant YCD a little interview….so I present to you 7 questions with YCD:
1. What was the first record/album you ever bought?
Out of Time, R.E.M. Not too embarrassing.
2. What are you currently listening to?
I’ve been listening to The Black Angels a good deal lately. I’ve been listening to Queen Adreena and a Norwegian band called Madrugada a lot as well. And then there is always a heaping dose of random odds and ends. It’s been medieval Spanish music for that.
3. Who or what inspired you to start making music?
I heard John Lee Hooker for the first time when I was 14, on a scratchy radio station. It was truly an awakening. I started out playing blues similar to what I heard that night, and my style has gradually shifted over the years.
4. If there was one song you wish you would have written what would it be, and why?
“Rake” by Townes Van Zandt. Because of the line
“I buried my face but it spoke once again
the night to the day we’re a bindin’
and now the dark air is like fire on my skin
and even the moonlight is blinding”But more than any song that has ever been written, I wish that I wrote the book “Blood Meridian” by Cormac McCarthy. And I wish that I wrote every single poem that Joe Bolton wrote.
5. If you weren’t a musician what would you be doing now?
Being miserable and angry that I wasn’t a musician.I’d probably be a photographer. Or maybe a writer. But it’s difficult to say, because I really only started writing in the context of music.
6. Is there anything new you are working on now?
I’m completing my second solo album. I’ve been releasing snippets and rough cuts on my myspace page. I’m also completing a second album with my band, Creech Holler.7. For those readers who haven’t heard of you or your music before what would best describe you and your music?
I try to make my music poetry about beauty in desolate places. About love and dying. I suppose that tells you also what I think about most of the time.
buy Hymns to the Darkness:
Jeff Dernlan’s music is exceeding the traditional borders of americana and country music, even if most of the new tracks could find their cradles in those genres. Two years, after 
