House and Land

The Empty Glass, 410 Elizabeth Street, Charleston, WV

Sally Anne Morgan is a fiddle player, banjo and guitar player, singer, square dance caller, and collaborator. Her musical outfits include the critically acclaimed old time group the Black Twig Pickers, House & Land, and a recent collaboration with fiddler Scott Prouty. She aIso does letterpress printing, illustration and graphic design under the name Ratbee Press. House & Land is a collaboration of Sarah Louise (Scissor Tail Editions, forthcoming VDSQ) and Sally Anne Morgan of the Black Twig Pickers (Thrill Jockey). Together, Sarah and Sally play haunting psychedelic Appalachian folk drone that invokes the rhododendron thickets, creeks and mountains of their local landscape in Western North Carolina. Sarah Louise is a preeminent 12-string guitarist, whose playing is influenced by clawhammer banjo and other nature-based drone styles from around the world. Her lush, hypnotic compositions are bolstered by Sally’s droning fiddle style, that incorporates traditional mountain fiddle tunes as well as modern improvisation and minimalism. Sally’s playing in the Black Twig Pickers, who have a history of collaborating with guitar heavyweights from Jack Rose to Steve Gunn, has geared her towards this perfect collaboration with Sarah. Together as House & Land, they weave their instrumental prowess with medieval vocal harmonies to create something both rooted in tradition and altogether new. ​