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Daniel Sharp and David Lauderdale are the acoustic duo known as All Around Hounds around here.
They’ve played together in various bands as well, most recently as part of Kill Face Johnny.
They almost exclusively play original music. Just a few carefully selected covers slip into their repertoire.
“Those selections will be from some of our favorite songwriters like Townes Van Zandt or Guy Clark,” Sharp said.
People want the cover songs because that’s what they are familiar with, but if you keep playing original stuff and develop a fan base, then they’ll recognize those songs, too,” Lauderdale said. “We believe that will ultimately break us out onto something bigger.”
See what you hear
The Hounds’ lyrics evoke a lot of imagery. Quickly zipping through some of their recordings I keep associating with my young past through theirs — all-night parties, love, hard knocks and fast cars.
Their acoustic guitars intertwine like the rattle of the wheels on a freight train and somehow it sounds just as lonely.
That doesn’t mean their stuff is depressing. It’s not. If anything you feel good after you hear their stories. It’s like therapy in a way, only you’re not sure if it was them or you that got the benefit of it after it’s all over.
“Redlight” is already a local classic and Sharp and Lauderdale are eager to pump out more. It’s their job now.
“Dublin” is another great song. It’s a big city in Ireland but a little speck in the road in the Delta. I’ve been there many times and I’m sure I’ve seen the old man they are singing about in that song. Weird isn’t it?
Don’t be scared
You can buy some of their music from them at their shows.
Some of their songs are recorded at “The Old House” as they call it. The old house is an old and haunted stagecoach house in Neshoba County.
“It’s sitting on the Andrew Jackson Military Road, it’s the road Andrew Jackson built on his way to the battle of New Orleans. It’s a sunken road,” Sharp said.
Sharp has been associated with the house for a long time. His first paranormal experience there was with a friend when he heard something in the room next to the one they were in.
“I knew what I heard but I wasn’t quite sure what they had heard so I said, ‘what did you hear?’ and the answer was, ‘a baby crying.’ That’s exactly what I heard.”
One night when Sharp went to the old house he heard a loud noise in the dark.
“I stopped and left immediately,” Sharp said. The next day in the daylight when he went back, he came across an old rabbit stick that had been found at the place long ago. It always hung on the wall in the main room of the structure, where he heard the sound the night before. Only it wasn’t hanging on the wall anymore. It was on the floor across the room from its usual place.
“I know there was no one in the house when I went there that time,” Sharp said.
In spite of its ghosts Sharp said the old house has a very welcoming and protective presence about it. It’s a lot like their songs.
When the Hounds aren’t playing in haunted places, the Echo Lounge and The ChiliHouse are a couple of their favorite haunts here in Meridian.
Recently at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia an impromptu jam drew in scores of folks. They were at a cabin belonging to some of their friends.
“Many of the people in the crowd were our friends, including a group from Austin, Texas who had arrived at the fair that night,” Sharp said. “There were a lot more people there than we expected to see, we weren’t playing through a P.A., and we had some other artists including songwriter Billy Singleton of Nashville and recording artists Heartland sit in with us during the show — no rules, just a gathering of friends and fellow Neshoba Countians having a good time.”
That’s like their music, too. It’s all about friends together, no rules, good times ... and the occasional ghost.
All Around Hounds are scheduled to play tonight at the Echo Lounge starting at
9 p.m. and Friday at the
ChiliHouse starting at 4 p.m.
For more about All Around Hounds, see www.myspace.com/allaroundhounds
- By Steve Gillespie / managing editor - Meridian Star
Discography
Recently recorded at Delta Recording Service (deltarecordingservice.com) Album soon to be released.
Photos
Bio
David Lauderdale
David Lauderdale was born in McComb, Mississippi in 1981. At age five his father bought him his first guitar. They would jam together many nights after that; David learning more and more on guitar and his father playing organ/piano. David's passion for music was born. He had great interest in songwriting and performing. His father, Bill, took him to a Bo Diddly concert in Magnolia, Mississippi and this inspired him to make a career in music.
After second grade he moved to Philadelphia, Mississippi where he formed the band, Eye of the Storm. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades they performed at the local Oktoberfest and the Choctaw Indian Fair. The years seemed to fly by and he found himself in the highschool Beta Band recieving top honors in competition. In college, he played in several bands such as The Good Paper, from the Mississippi Delta, Rojo Sol from Jackson, Mississippi, and The Latelys from New Orleans, Louisianna. With the Latelys he toured Mississippi, Tenessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorodo, Utah, Oregon, and California.
He then returned home where his father introduced him to local singer/songwriter Daniel Sharp. They began playing shows locally and collaborating on songs. It wasn't long before they were recording and touring regionally with great response. The played many shows with the bands Mississippi New Red Sand, Dirty Rotton Scoundrels, and Killface Johnny.
After playing with full bands and experimenting with diffrent sounds they went acoustic and found their niche. As Lauderdale says, " Somtimes the full line up, rock-n-roll, smash your face, takes away from the poetic lyrical content of Daniel's songs". Now they're back on the regional scene as the All Around Hounds to bring the music to the people.
David lists his influences as: his father, Bill Lauderdale, Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, John Scofield, Trey Anastasio, The Allman Brothers, Slash, Tom Morello, Pat Methany, Miles Davis, and John Coletrane......
Daniel Sharp
The Road and Neshoba County
The son of a Union Metal Worker, Daniel moved often during his childhood. His time was spent between the road and Neshoba County, Philadelphia, Mississippi. He remembers standing up on the truckseat between his folks, counting milemarkers to measure time and singing old gospel and country songs with his mother. It was on these long trips, he realized that he was built for motion.
Music was instrimental in the creation of Daniel Sharp. His parents met in a VFW hall dance in the late sixties. His father was home from Vietnam and his mother was playing boogie-woogie piano in the band. They married and Daniel was born into a family of music and farming; two things he would embrace, one sooner than the other.
Over the years, Daniel has been part of many bands and fronted many of his own. He has performed at festivals, taverns, and private events. He has performed for big crowds with full bands and has played solo in the corner of the local bar for food and beer on tuesday night. He also travelled across la frontera and over the mountain pass known as "the spine of the devil". Daniel has worn many hats. In his travels, he has worked on organic farms, as a white water river guide, construction worker, bartender, a mississippi cowboy, and paddled a canoe into Canada.
The year 2005 found Daniel playing acoustic guitar and singing in a greatful, electric, rattle-the-roof, take no prisoners band that depending on when and where you saw them were described as: Punk Country, Roots Rock, or Blues Jam Americana. During this time Daniel was playing some shows with wellknown local artist/musician, Bill Lauderdale. Bill's son David came to a show with his guitar and Daniel and Dave's styles clicked instantly. Daniel had known about and admired David's talent ever since he first heard him jamming in the loft of a barn when Dave was about thirteen years old. Daniel (and his band at the time, Coonshuck) had dropped by to lend some young guys some PA equipment for an upcoming gig. Daniel thought it was cool that they were practicing in a barn as he also rehearsed in a barn.
Daniel and David began playing in the same full electric band and toured around Mississippi honing their skills and writing music. It was out of this comman experience that their all-original acoustic Duo, All Around Hounds was born. Currently they are working on their craft and performing at venues close to home in Mississippi.
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