Haint Blue by Johnny Conqueroo

Haint Blue was written over a year of performances. Each track being inspired, tweaked and finished during live shows and jam sessions. Above all else, we put energy and feeling front stage. Through the year of performance and trial and error, each track was honed down to its most genuine and hard hitting form. You do something good and all of a sudden everyone is freaking out it’s like, okay, that’s something we want to bring into the studio.


That was the next step. We had produced and recorded our last two records ourselves preferring the environment of a DIY home studio. That’s why, when Duane Lundy from Shangri-la studios (Ringo Starr, Vandaveer) suggested recording at his studio built in a large 1800s house, the match could not have been better. Lundy, favoring the energetic and spontaneous feeling of our live shows recorded the album in few takes with very little overdubs. We feel the EP is a raw and energetic rock album that weaves together tall tales of murder, betrayal and guilt. The songs piece together cohesively enough to find overarching storylines, though each song is self contained and tells a unique story.


The album surrounds itself in the in the traditional storytelling ideas of old ghost stories or appalachian “haint tales.” After a little digging we came upon the term “Haint blue.” “Haint Blue” refers to a specific shade of blue used to ward off evil spirits and bad omens. The feelings of the songs work perfectly within these haint tales and so “Haint Blue” stuck. We chose the album cover, designed by Kentucky artist and punk rock lifer, Lawrence Tarpey, it depicts an iconic Kentucky landmark, Natural Bridge but in a ghostly and ominous way. Its otherworldly haint blue color and recognizable appalachian landmark give the album its set and setting. It provides context to the record and ties the final thematic strings together.

Garage Rock
Psych Rock
Blues Rock