For trans folksinger Creekbed Carter Hogan, everything good is made from the rotten stump of something else. It’s a theme they’ve become familiar with as they’ve made a life weaving stories of growing up religious around songs that pierce the soul, tickle the funny bone, and showcase a unique blend of self-taught folk picking and queer mayhem. 

Creekbed Carter, out with Gar Hole Records on March 22 2024, is Hogan at their most confident. Deftly crafted with folk sensibilities, country swagger, and a power emanating from the force of their own desires, their new self-titled album is both creed and archive: a defiant declaration of survival and solidarity in an otherwise limited world.

Rooted in the eccentric preoccupations of a messy Catholic childhood that have been transformed into a dazzling, troubling, and ultimately wondrous collection of songwriting, this 10-track record represents a departure from the quiet revelations of Good St Riddance. Listeners accompany Hogan as they look clear-eyed at the world around them and draw power from the act of naming with language so precise, it comes as no surprise to learn that Hogan, in addition to being a musician, is also a fiction writer and educator.   

Engineer Britton Beisenherz of Ramble Creek Studios (Austin, TX) and a cast of mostly Austin folk music legends bolster Hogan’s traditional fingerpicking styles and gender-ambiguous vocal stylings to build a new landscape for queer folk and country. Rising pedal steel star Zack Wiggs (Brody Price, Pelvis Wrestley) adds a new-country feel to “If I Was,” while Nora Predey and Gabriela Torres (Large Brush Collection) lend stunning backing vocals. Fiddle solos from Beth Chrisman (The Carper Family, The Frauleins), warm piano moments from Beisenherz, and banjo contributions from queer folksinger McKain Lakey shimmer and speak to the roots influences Hogan draws inspiration from. Lindsey Verrill and Jeff Johnston (Little Mazarn) round out each track with a host of textural elements, constructing orchestral swells and acoustic eddies that compliment dense poetics and searing wit. Longtime fans of the Austin queer music scene will also recognize members of Brand New Key, Austin’s premier queergrass band, on “Apiary.” The result is a full-band collaborative sound that builds on the intimacy and precision of Hogan’s live shows when they’re performing as a one-rascal band in dive bars, back alleys, and fancy national stages.  

Careful listeners will certainly delight in hearing familiar folk and country spirits that haunt these songs. Nick Drake’s influence can be felt in the arrangement of “Apiary.” “Stayin’ With You” and “Through With Lovin’” both share a penchant for troublemaking that speaks to hours spent listening to Roger Miller and John Prine. “Lord, Make Me A Scorpion” shares Bobbie Gentry’s flare for orchestral dramatics, while Karen Dalton’s influence sits just to the left of the lyrics for “If I Was.” Ultimately, however, Creekbed Carter is unplaceable, shapeshifting beyond a genre binary in favor of building a more expansive musical future. It’s a lineage they’re proud to step into, one that unites DIY artists, folk singers, trans visionaries, experimental writers, and country stars throughout history. 

Clever, hopeful, bald, and true, Creekbed Carter is, above all, an act of resilience: a flaming sword that both creator and listener can use to cut their way out and get forward, together.