Jolie Holland Is Haunted

Jolie Holland couldn’t have picked a better title for her new disc than The Living And The Dead.

While recording, the Texas-born songstress and her band (who include gadabout guitarist M. Ward) were spectators during two acts of poltergeist activity. They occurred at separate studios, but both events were localized at the recording of one song: "Corrido Por Buddy," a tale about a friend of Holland’s who spiralled into addiction and passed away.

"Yeah, during 'Buddy,' there was one thing that I witnessed and there was another thing — I was upstairs and didn't see it," Holland recalls. "When we were tracking for that song, on two separate occasions, four people witnessed the lights going off and on over top of the players.

"The first time it happened, there were red and white light bulbs in the chandelier and all of the white light bulbs kept going off. It didn't make sense. And it only happened when we were working on that song."

Holland isn't quite ready to admit that she's being haunted by the ghost of her departed friend, but it's obvious she's a believer in the supernatural.

"So many people have experiences with ghosts," she says. "You might as well say it's natural."

For Holland, this sort of subject matter is par for the course. There's a significant darkness that looms over The Living And The Dead's songs, but there's usually a light at the end of the tunnel as well.

"I think people like to hear about death and despair," Holland decides. "I think everything I write has death and despair in it.

"There are so many people that take half a centimetre of Tom Waits' material, and they copy it and balloon it out into an entire career, and it usually doesn't get very far because it's not that entertaining.

"I've seen a lot of bands that have a lot of darkness with absolutely no redemption, and it's just no good. Even Townes Van Zandt, who's a super-dark writer — there’s always something beautiful in his songs — always something shining. It's not just like digging a hole straight to hell."

You can catch Holland and her ghost stories, just in time for Halloween, on Wednesday at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern and Thursday at Montreal's
Cabaret Du Musee Juste Pour Rire.