European Underground with American Roots
At the age of 40 Germany-based DAD HORSE OTTN started playing music on a tenor banjo given to him as a gift. Drawing inspiration from Appalachian music and the abysses of his soul, he invented a genuine mixture of country gospel, singer / songwriter, punk rock, and oompah-pah polka labeled as "Keller-Gospel."
Under the moniker THE DAD HORSE EXPERIENCE he started travelling the world as a One-Man-Gesamtkunstwerk in 2008. Singing his mysterious and otherworldly songs with banjo, mandolin, bass-pedal, and kazoo, he tells bizarre and twisted stories about guilt, redemption, and the merchandise tables of heaven.
With his thick German accent and decidedly original take on Americana, he could gain a respectable fan base worldwide, especially in the United States, home of country and gospel. After his song "Gates of Heaven", about a man requesting admittance to heaven to see his late mother, has been featured on a sampler by dark roots label Devil’s Ruin Records, the song became a kind of anthem for the Muddy Roots scene, which appreciates traditional bluegrass and folk as well as noisy punk rock. With its hefty refrain, "Lord, I'm a badass motherfucker / But won't you please let me in?" this quirky gem is sung widely around campfire parties in West Virginia to Indie rock festivals in California. The song isclose to becoming part of the Great American Songbook.
It's too limiting to view DAD HORSE OTTN solely as a musician. During his live performances the man with the great black humor readily tells stories both intriguing and mystifying. He switches easily from abyssal sadness to anarchic witticism. With his surreal and twisted style, DAD HORSE OTTN has established a worldwide reputation as a genuine European and authentic interpreter of the American gospel & country tradition.In 2015 sadly Dad Horse was repelled and permanently banned from the US, some say due to visa problems, some say due to mixing cursing words into gospel songs. While we keep on patiently waiting for his second coming, Chain Smoking Record does its best to help spread Dad Horse' Keller-Gospel by distributing his music & art like a sacred flu.