House of Sod is Kyle Knapp's best effort yet. This album is a change from his usual folk sound, but it's not quite country or bluegrass. Knapp showcases his recent work, combining familiar sounds and tunes with the songs of other artists, to convey a tight message. It is contemplative, reminiscent, spiritual, yet free of their typical deliveries. In a word, it's fresh!

House of Sod compares progress to the enjoyment of simplicity. It's biographical, allegorical and historical all in one. In an age where copy is thought to be gold, Knapp is solidly in his own; no shallow imitations or clichés.

~Tim Price
www.kingdomcitizenship.org

...a musical feast...!

The "House of Sod" CD is special to me. My great-grandparents homesteaded in western Kansas, and my summer visits to my grandparents' farm remain as my fondest childhood memories. In 1981 I read Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier by Joanna L. Stratton, which deeply stirred my heart. The songs Kyle has compiled for this CD revived many of the feelings and experiences that shaped me as a young man -- the longing for simplicity, the grandeur of the plains and the struggles to carve out a life in difficult circumstances as the nation expanded westward. This CD is a musical feast drawn from the challenges of life in the Mid-West.

~Jon Zens, editor
Searching Together
www.searchingtogether.org

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a touch of country feel...

Kyle Knapp's new CD "House of Sod" is an awesome collection of music. A little different from Kyle's first two CD's. This one has a touch of country feel to it. Prairie Country...not 'Country/Western' but a type of Folk not played on the street corners and coffee shops of big cities but from the porches of the heartland.

As to which songs are my favorites....I can't choose. The title song "house of sod" touched me as few songs ever have. I was sitting on my couch listening to this CD with my eyes closed when this song came on. I just listened and as the song faded off I remember thinking "man, that is a powerful song"...a moment later my wife who had been in the other room came in and asked; "honey, do you think Kyle has any idea of just how powerful a song that is?" We were both thinking the same word...Powerful.

Out of the dusty Midwest, a traveling troubadour sings the songs of the unseen.
"House of Sod" is an attempt at a dustbowl anthem, but is just a bit too fence ridden to be convincing. While tracks like “The Song That Joe Hears” is stripped down and refreshingly honest, “Is This Heaven?” is too polished and scripted. A decent adult-folk album, like a complacent James Taylor.

~Jake Nuckolls
CDReviews.com
 

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The first visitors to this fair state were probably familiar with the phrase “House of Sod”. Early pioneers of Nebraska and other plains states often used stacked bricks of earth to create dwelling places, since wood and stones were scarce. Perhaps some of them even saw the Biblical analogy, as Knapp does, of a dirt house being home to a family or the Spirit of God.

“The first man was also made of earth or sod,” Knapp points out. “And it’s amazing that the spirit of God would choose to live in that.”

Aside from the clever spiritual nod, the name also conjures up images of pioneer days and folksy music, and that’s exactly what it delivers. From the story-centric “Daughter of Snow” which chronicles the hard life of an early Nebraskan settler, to the deeply moving “Mother’s Day”, Knapp’s plainative voice sings of times passed, hard luck and hope for the future.
The “hope for the future” is clearly Knapp’s Lord, Jesus Christ. It’s an element of the album that almost didn’t see the light of day. When Knapp was writing and recording the album in Texas, his old music cronies were reticent to include some of the spiritual elements.

“We weren’t in sync spiritually,” Knapp explained. “There was pressure to scale back the spiritual message to make it more commercial.”

Kyle stood firm, and finished the recording at Dry Creek Studio here in Nebraska. In addition to preserving the spiritual dedication, one wonders if the strong Nebraska flavor also stemmed from this decision.

Instrumental “Barnswallow Dance” is perfect for whiling away a fall afternoon on your porch, while “Continue On” is a throat-clenching ballad that reminds us of the best part of courage and bravery.

“I think it’s the best work I’ve done so far,” said Knapp. “It’s about perserverance through life’s lows, the wonders of nature.”

While Knapp allows that the album has a more “country-roots flavor” than his previous album Refugee, he explains that the more organic feel of the album is a reflection of his spiritual journey.

“We spend a lot of time trying to figure God out, studying. . .and that’s a worthy pursuit,” said Knapp. “But He remains powerful, mysterious and wonderful. It’s changed my thinking. Our walk of faith is not about what we do, it’s about what we are.”
 

~Maren Hogan
the Heartland Gatekeeper
 

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cuts as the two-edged sword...

Been listening to your disc a lot the past few days. 'Daughter of the Snow' is as finely written & ensemble-played a song as any I've ever heard from Prine, Lightfoot, Eric Andersen, Tom Paxton, Jimmy Webb, Terry or John Michael Talbot, ad infinitum. (Your fiddler is wonderful-clearly his own man but evocative of Bill Cunningham w/Mason Profitt so many years ago when I had good hair & one chin.) 'Down the River Road' is superb as well, & of course 'Mercy On Me' cuts as the two-edged sword in THIS sinner's nasty heart...

The LORD has surely given you a talent, my friend, & it's my good blessing to have met you on this ethereal road we travel into eternity.

"Even so, Come, Lord Jesus"

~Howard Deever
Omaha NE
 

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