The Handsome Family - Far From Any Road HD (Singing Bones - 2003)

From the dusty mesa, her looming shadow grows
Hidden in the branches of the poison creosote.

She twines her spines up slowly towards the boiling sun,
And when I touched her skin, my fingers ran with blood.

In the hushing dusk, under a swollen silver moon,
I came walking with the wind to watch the cactus bloom.

A strange hunger haunted me; the looming shadows danced.
I fell down to the thorny brush and felt a trembling hand.

When the last light warms the rocks and the rattlesnakes unfold,
Mountain cats will come to drag away your bones.

And rise with me forever across the silent sand,
And the stars will be your eyes and the wind will be my hands.



The Handsome Family is an alternative country and americana band, formed in Chicago, Illinois, and currently based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

History

The band was formed in 1993 by husband-and-wife duo Brett Sparks (vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Rennie Sparks (bass, banjo, vocals), along with drummer Mike Werner. The band would later revolve around Rennie, who writes the lyrics, and Brett, who writes the music. Guest musicians complete the band line-up for recordings and live work.
Regarding the band name, Brett said in an interview: "It's just kind of a stupid name. We used to have this really obnoxious drummer, and he used to call me 'Handsome', that was his nickname for me, I think for sarcastic reasons... And he wanted to call it the Handsome Family...and we thought it was funny, too. We thought it was a good name."
Brett is originally from Odessa, Texas and Rennie from Long Island. The band toured extensively throughout both America and Europe in support of early releases Odessa (1994) and Milk and Scissors (1996). During that time, Brett suffered an emotional breakdown, resulting in his hospitalization and diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
Their third full-length album, Through the Trees, was written in the aftermath of these events, and inclu