Snake Hollow by the Tristan Israel Band marks the fourth album from the unique songwriter and vocalist who has been performing and recording for almost 60 years. The album showcases the band’s virtuosity and his unique songwriting abilities. From Monarch butterflies to the Astrolabe, an ancient seafarer’s navigational tool, Tristan’s songs take the listener to a variety of moods and places. The lyrics are poetical and well thought out. Tristan’s music varies in style but is always consistent in its surprising deliveries.
\Tristan says that although this may well be his best album, he will continue to create new music at his home in Snake Hollow on Martha’s Vineyard, MA. In the Tristan Israel Band, Tristan sings vocals, plays acoustic guitar, and also harmonica on “Water Over the Dam.” Paul Thurlow plays bass, piano, keys, electric guitar, percussion and backing vocals. Nancy Jephcote fiddles and adds a piano track on the song “Galicia.”
Nancy and Paul are consummate musicians and together with Tristan’s vocals and his varied guitar stylings, they create their own distinct musical experience. Paul, a talented artist in his own right, recorded Snake Hollow on Martha’s Vineyard in the town of West Tisbury. Mike Israel, Tristan’s younger brother and a well-known percussionist on the west coast, plays drums on “Snake Hollow,” “House Always Wins,” and “When I Die.” Phil Spillane’s bluesy notes on harmonica enhance “When I Die,” “No Steal,” and “On Our Way.”
Tristan grew up near New York City influenced by many musicians and genres of music. Musicals on Broadway, the Village folk scene, jazz at the Vanguard, and early rock and roll at the Brooklyn Fox all helped to shape his own music. His mother also instilled in him a love for poetry that still guides the way he crafts his lyrics. His songs are poems that create unique paintings of the world as he sees it.
