Pastor Chris Congregation

Pastor Chris Congregation

West Virginia Snake Handler Revival "The Shall Take Up Serpents"

Sublime Frequencies

***West Virginia Snake Handler Revival "They Shall Take Up Serpents" marks the arrival of a landmark record, documenting the last, snake handling church in Appalachia. Featuring hillbilly rock guitars, trance-like rhythms, and howling vocals, this album was recorded 100% live and without overdubs by Grammy-award winning producer and author, Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Zomba Prison Project). The first release of American music ever by Sublime Frequencies, Brennan states, "As much as I've traveled around the globe to remote areas such as Comoros, the southeast Sahara or up-river in Suriname, few places have felt more foreign or 'exotic' than this part of Appalachia. The recording represents in many ways a companion and counterpoint—the other side of the Deep South, so to speak—to the music that was explored on the Parchman Prison Prayer albums. The Snake Handler album was an attempt to listen across that divide—a divide that's never fully healed and continues to haunt and imperil the USA to this day." The recording took place during a two-plus hour Sunday service in the West Virginia mountains. Brennan states, "I'd sworn to stay far away from the snakes at the service, but instead they were waved in my face as they coiled in the preachers' hands, and I crouched down at the foot of the altar tending to the equipment. The pastor soon was bitten and blood splattered, pooling on the floor. The female parishioners hurriedly came to wipe up the mess, and it instantly became clear just what the...