At over 300 million years the Ozark Mountains are among the oldest in the world, and have been a home to humans for the last 7,500 of those years. Over those millenia these bluffs, caves, valleys, and streams have held numerous cultures. These cultures left their myths, stories, and ghosts embedded in the very landscape that sheltered them. From the shadows of the shortleaf pine to the inky depths of the limestone and dolomite caves, there is a darkness that pervades this land; a darkness that swallows stories and keeps secrets.
Eric Howell is the most recent chapter in this Ozark Noir saga. A singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from southwest Missouri, Howell has decades of experience creating and recording original music and stories in the DIY tradition so indicative of the folks that inhabit this hard-scrabble region.
These songs seem to come from deep within the mountains. Haunting melodies and esoteric lyrical themes nod to the ancient darkness of the Ozarks, while neo-traditional compositions and genre-defying instrumentation wink at more recent traditions of settlers to this plateau.
With an inimitable voice and thoughtful songwriting, Howell has created a special aesthetic that one can only describe as Ozark Noir. Four notable full-length offerings have solidified Eric Howell as the torch bearer of this sound, and have proven him worthy of following into the darkness.
