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Scorched Earth Policy (Mixtape)

by Brother Dege

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1.
Audio collage. No lyrics.
2.
Set It Off 02:46
3.
4.
Yellabone 03:23
YELLABONE Tell you what You tell me why Stack them up Break high You always get what you want Sometimes you say jump How high You think you want me to go? No matter what No matter why It goes up Don't deny you always get what you want Somtimes ain't enough But the way you give and take is so rough She goes on and on and on Yeah, my yellabone, you know she goes on She goes on and on and on Yeah, my yellabone she be the bomb No matter what Don't matter why Just show up I got to follow before you leave me behind To catch up To get mine Can I climb up to the top of your throne She goes on and on and on Yeah, my yellabone, You know she goes on She goes on and on and on Yeah, my yellabone, she be the bomb
5.
TOWER OF BABEL Revolution Calling up the real revolution
6.
Revolution 02:30
REVOLUTION Rev Rev Rev... Revolution Revolution Revolution Apolitical Twice the mythical Thrice the mystical To get to the luminal To hear all my live not know now To hear all my live not know now I got to find the real revolution Revolution lyrics & music: Dege Legg
7.
Supernaut 03:04
SUPERNAUT (music & lyrics by Black Sabbath, reinterpreted by Dege Legg) I want to reach out and touch the sky I want to touch the sun but I don’t need to fly I’m gonna climb up every mountain on the moon And trip away the day where freak witches groove Where freak witches groove I’ve crossed the ocean at every bend I’ve found the plastic at the golden rainbows end Done blown my magic in the dead reality I lived a thousand years, it never could bother me Never could bother me Got no religion, got no friends Got all I want and don’t need to pretend Don’t try to reach because I’ve blown out my mind I’ve seen the future and then left it so far behind So far behind… (chant)
8.
Powerline 02:24
POWERLINE (music & lyrics by Husker Du)
9.
THE ZATAN BOYS (from the novel The Battle Hymn of the Good Ol'Hillbilly Zatan Boys) This here’s the story of the good old hillbilly Zatan boys. These old boys were wild. And they had guns. And they'd been itching for one of them thar Branch-Davidian Freakouts for a long time. But that freakout never really came around, so they kept doing as they'd always done...just hanging round the mountain, killing time and eating snakemeat and squatting by the fire. Sipping straight White Jesus shine from a dirty cup with a leg propped up on a deadcar. Deadcar. Deadcar. Deadcar. So yeah, you get the idea. It was slow going on the mountain. Boys was tripped out...way up in the thick of the backwoods. You had to stay busy or the nights roasted you like a sickly chicken and them nights were followed by big old mountain pounding days that'd have you sniveling for the reapers seeds and swearing that the sun had wires in it...what with the buzz and scrape of insects buzzing round your brains. Crawling up your skin. It was hard going up on the mountain, but country mountain folks got to survive. And they just did what had to be done. They was some hard folks. Because times was hard. But no harder than the smelly greasy heads of the good old hillbilly Zatan boys. They stitched a wicked strangeness and rode the ghost of it out of the backwoods, mulching humping rotten stumps and porn-fornicating on the dark blanket of the moist hills. Just having a good old time...all while maniacally exploring the bizarre circus of dementia lodged far back in the twisted creeks of their minds. This is their story and this is their battle hymn: The Battle Hymn of the Good Ol'Hillbilly Zatan Boys.
10.
JONES FOR WAR See no evil Cause war's in season Like spring or treason All the atom bombs around the world Strange men in a stranger world Black night dreaming I’m tired of thinking of all the meanings All the loaded guns around the world Aimed upon the flags unfurled Make me see no evil at all They want to sell your blood for oil Make me see no evil at all Stacking up the blood money They got the Jones for war See no evil Cause greed’s in season My TV is sleeping in the land free and the home of the fear The mother of all bombs in the air Old money dreaming It’s stuck and scheming Now who’re you believing The cowboy crooks or the billionaires Victim or villain or bombardier Stacking up up the blood money They got the Jones for war
11.
SPEAKING TONGUES (listener interpretation)
12.
WAY OF THE LAMB Maria slits the dawn I’m almost no one No one like the unknown lamb In the shadows of man In forgotten holes Where even animals surrender their command This crown of thorns This cross to the strange Stranger than you wanted Strange like the way of the lamb I am powerless emotion I am swinging from the night The moon is on a string I know you want it now When the carnival of voices Drowns the small talk and the jive Just like the way of the lamb Can you dig the World War Zero Like a man? I tore the crown of thorns From my head It was such a drag Now I’m free of all the bullshit I know you’ll understand Just like the way of the lamb A crown of thorns A cross to the strange All the nameless gospels All the faceless names Of the lamb Maria slits the dawn I’m almost no one I’m almost no one
13.
HAUNTED HEART Good night to masquerades And whispers in the dark Why would you want to save me I’m already gone Last of the longshot burnouts Racing for tomorrow It’s my last chance Before the murder of the dawn Haunted Heart Tonight the stars parade Brighter than before Tell Jesus not to save me I’m already gone Last of the longshot burnouts Racing for the dawn It’s my last chance Before the murder of the dawn and my haunted heart It’s my last chance Haunted heart
14.
Bombs Away 03:43
BOMBS AWAY Bombs away in the new year I’m feeling kind of strange in the millennium Let me count the ways of a new fear Something’s gonna come And drag you away Where does it end and you begin? It’s a radio wasteland From sea to sea The wave pool sucked in the American dream Down the Tarot card halls Puppets and numbers A smile or a scar on a magazine It’s only flesh it falls Just like the vanity of youth it calls to you in a scream Where does it end and you begin? You need a villain to be a victim in the wasteland I shot my love today She was talking ‘bout The seventh sign of an Armageddon Turning water to wine And word to stone Point out the way to the end of the world Waiting for the day of the chosen one Who knows? Maybe he won’t come You were drunk in the rain On blood Monday Singing under a cloud to an orphan god Telling me your sob story Heard it lately Last call, we got them two for one And three is always a crowd Some day maybe Natural selection’s Going to weed us out You need a villain to be a victim in the wasteland We got to leave All romance in the past We got to leave All victories to chance Where does it end And you begin?
15.
FLOWER POWER CHAIN GANG Can you feel the love inside of me? In a world full of hateful things In the darkness where the child lays We’re on the flower power chain gang Can you feel the hate inside of me? In a world filled with crumbling things I’m so free, man, it hurts to wake Down on the flower power chain gang It’s a big old world that makes us slaves Come on and grind me down the highway Tonight we lay it all to waste on the flower power chain gang
16.
THE PROMISED LAND Yeah, blood’s cheap and I’m weak, white, and greasy Just looking for a hole I can’t sleep, Watching Jesus wink Momma says I got to get some help or go I got to go Just looking for a hole Check that sales chicken Stands ten tall Bring it down back to the jail I call it home You know why Yeah, the radio sings me to sleep Short and sweet Swinging down lower That we go The more you need The worse you bleed Got to read it and weep Drop it down in a hole Just looking for a hole Water into wine Sheeps to the slaughter Pearls to the swine Redemption for a dollar Gone burn a trail Burn a trail to the Promised land We leave tomorrow Park my trash can On Piccolo street Quarter slots and blackjack odds Hail to the Promised Land Burn a trail
17.
instsrumental
18.
Mamou 08:35
instsrumental
19.
instsrumental

about

SCORCHED EARTH POLICY MIXTAPE / DIGITAL ALBUM

NOTE: THIS IS A DIGITAL-ONLY ALBUM. THERE IS NO CD VERSION CURRENTLY AVAILABLE.

Ever since his music was featured in Quentin Tarantino's film Django Unchained as well as the Discovery Channel and the National Geographic Channel, Brother Dege (AKA Dege Legg) can no longer lay claim to being "one of the best kept secrets in the Deep South." Dege is a musician, writer, workingman and heir to a long line of unusual characters born and raised in the southern U.S. Like the mad lovechild of Son House, Faulkner and Patti Smith, Legg has burned a crooked trail to the Promised Land. Avoiding traditional career paths, he has spent as much time exploring the backwoods weirdness of his home state as he has forging his own brand of incendiary, "psyouthern" roots music. The journeys are parallel. Since the late '90s, Dege has pushed slide, resonators, and the Deep South, kicking and screaming into the 21st century, melding elements of folk, Delta blues, punk, rock, metal, hippie ragas and outlaw county into one blasted, raw whole.

Following his two previous acclaimed solo efforts (2009's Folk Songs Of The American Longhair & 2013's How To Kill A Horse) Brother Dege is now set to release a unique digital mixtape entitled Scorched Earth Policy, featuring a mix of newly recorded studio songs, demos, covers and field recordings.

Dege explains the idea behind his new digital mixtape project, "I'm a big fan of southern rap culture, especially DJ Screw (Houston) and screw tapes. I love how hip-hop has bred this vibrant mixtape culture, rapping over each other's beats and songs. Some of the songs are raw and unmastered and of varying quality, but I love that."

"In no way am I trying to rap, I'm paying tribute to the culture of the modern south and mix tapes, and just applying that idea to the realm of the slide guitar, delta blues and experimentalism."

"In the modern world of Pro-tools recording, there's an overemphasis on things being perfect. Things do not have to be perfect. Much of this obsession with perfection has sucked the soul out of a lot of bands. New music can be raw and flawed - warts and all - and still releasable to the public."

ALBUM: SCORCHED EARTH POLICY
BROTHER DEGE MIXTAPE
Production: Tony Daigle and Dege Legg
Engineering: Dege Legg and Tony Daigle (drums)
Recorded at various home studios and unorthodox locations

Track List:

NEW SONGS
01 SCORCHED EARTH INTRO
02 SET IT OFF
03 THE DAY I WAS BORN
04 YELLABONE
05 TOWER OF BABEL
06 REVOLUTION

COVERS
07 SUPERNAUT (Black Sabbath from Vol. 4)
08 POWERLINE (Husker Du from New Day Rising)

SPOKEN WORD
09 THE ZATAN BOYS

DEMOS
10 JONES FOR WAR
11 SPEAKING TONGUES
12 WAY OF THE LAMB
13 HAUNTED HEART
14 BOMBS AWAY
15 FLOWER POWER CHAIN GANG
16 THE PROMISED LAND

FIELD RECORDINGS
17 OPERATION: MELLOW
18 MAMOU
19 YINNING ON A YANG


More Dege info:

Grammy-nominated Brother Dege's (Django Unchained, 2013) Scorched Earth Policy is the slamming summertime mix tape of 2014. Inspired by the scorching heat and humidity of the Deep South and the mixtape culture surrounding it, Scorched Earth Policy is a massive double album (19 tracks) that radiates all things summer: the mountain-pounding heat, swimming in the river, blasting metal riffs, road trips, falling in love, throwing down, and above all sweating under the MILEWIDESUN. Scorched Earth Policy is a Riff circus of burn burning, slide-delta blues, rock and roll, psych, and southern folk - all of it laced with some black chowder distortion, eerie slide guitars, and MORE RIFFS. Summer is about Riffing. The album includes five new songs, two covers (Black Sabbath and Husker Du), tons of demos, field recordings, and a spoken word collage. As usual, all of these tracks were recorded by Legg in odd, nontraditional places: trailerparks, warehouses, sheds, open fields, and even a pond. This is the jam, people! Double album. MFing rock & roll. 19 tracks. And more riffs than you can fit in Riffelstiltskin rucksack.

Production: Tony Daigle & Dege Legg
Engineering: Tony Daigle & Dege Legg

Instrumentation:
Dege Legg: vocals, slide, resonators, electric guitar, bass, percussion, and sounds
Howie Wells: guitar on "Day I Was Born"
Danny Devillier: drums on "Yellabone" and "Day I Was Born"
Seth Rung: bass on "Yellabone" and "Day I Was Born"
Stephen Gardner: drums on "Tower of Babel"


Full of raging, dirt-earth pounding slabs of swamp heat, haunted redemption, and bell towers of experimentation, Brother Dege's albums Folk Songs of the American Longhair, How to Kill a Horse, and Scorched Earth Policy are tour de force artworks that rage from barn burners to ancient Delta blues meditations to whirlwind slide guitar hurricanes. Like the Delta masters, it is emotion-packed, imperfect, flawed, desperate, yet insanely alive and vibrating with an X-variable hidden deep in our human core.

Avoiding pricey studios, Legg recorded his previous two albums and the newly released Scorched Earth Policy in nontraditional spaces such as sheds, old houses, warehouses, trailerparks, and open fields. Much like the field recordings of Alan Lomax, Legg's music tunnels into the ancient mysteries of pre-war blues and its devil-obsessed masters. His last three albums are quickly being heralded as the Delta-slide, millennial reboot for generations to come.


Track Notes:

SCORCHED EARTH INTRO
collage arranged and edited by Dege Legg

SET IT OFF
recorded: the warehouse and Electrick Comoland
Dege Legg: vocals, slide/resonator, bass
Danny Devillier: drums

DAY I WAS BORN (SAINTS OF OLD)
recorded: the warehouse and Electrick Comoland
Dege Legg: vocals, steel resonator
Howie Wells: guitar
Seth Rung: bass
Danny Devillier: drums

YELLABONE
recorded: warehouse and Electric Comoland
Dege Legg: vocals, steel resonator
Howie Wells: guitar
Seth Rung: bass
Danny Devillier: drums

TOWER OF BABEL
recorded: the warehouse
Dege Legg: vocals, guitars, bass
Stephen Gardner: drums

REVOLUTION
recorded: the warehouse
Dege Legg: vocals, guitars, bass
Stephen Gardner: drums

COVERS
SUPERNAUT (Black Sabbath)
recorded: the warehouse
Dege Legg, vocals, slide, guitars, bass, drums

POWERLINE (Husker Du)
recorded: the warehouse
Dege Legg, vocals, slide, guitars, bass, drums


SPOKEN WORD
THE ZATAN BOYS: spoken word reading from the Dege Legg’s book The Battle Hymn of the Good Ol’HIllbilly Zatan Boys book. Published 2000.
Recorded: the warehouse

DEMOS
JONES 4 WAR
Recorded: trailerpark
Dege Legg: vocals, slide, harmonica

SPEAKING TONGUES
Recorded: trailerpark
Dege Legg: vocals, slide, percussion

HAUNTED HEART
Recorded: Santeria Hell House
Dege Legg: vocals, slide, percussion

BOMBS AWAY
Recorded: trailerpark
Dege Legg: vocals, guitar, percussion

WAY OF THE LAMB
Recorded: trailerpark
Dege Legg: vocals, sitar-guitar, percussion

FLOWER POWER CHAIN GANG
Recorded: Youngsville, LA
Dege Legg: vocals, guitar

THE PROMISED LAND
Recorded: Santeria Hell House
Dege Legg: vocals, slide, percussion


FIELD RECORDINGS / SCAPES
OPERATION: HAVE U NEVER BEEN MELLOW
Recorded at fishing pond, 2009, Mamou, LA

MAMOU
Recorded in backwoods clearing, Mamou, Louisiana, 2010

YINNING ON A YANG
Recorded at fishing pond, 2009 Mamou

credits

released September 22, 2014

Production: Tony Daigle & Dege Legg
Mixing & mastering: Tony Daigle at Electric Comoland Studio
Engineering: Dege Legg

Instrumentation:
Dege Legg: vocals, slide, resonators, electric guitar, bass, percussion, and sounds
Howie Wells: guitar on "Day I Was Born"
Danny Devillier: drums on "Yellabone" and "Day I Was Born"
Seth Rung: bass on "Yellabone" and "Day I Was Born"
Stephen Gardner: drums on "Tower of Babel"

license

Some rights reserved. Please refer to individual track pages for license info.

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about

Brother Dege Lafayette, Louisiana

Brother Dege (AKA Dege Legg) is one of the best kept secrets in the Deep South. Legg has burned a crooked trail to the Promised Land, pushing slide Delta Blues into the 21st century, melding elements of folk, Delta blues, punk, rock, metal, hippie ragas, and outlaw county into one blasted, raw whole. ... more

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