Esopus

For its latest audio compilation, ESOPUS invited 11 musical acts -- including Peter Silberman, Joseph Keckler, and Katie Von Scheicher -- to create new songs inspired by a joke of their choice. The CD will appear in ESOPUS 25, which is just now hitting bookstores. The iconic comical query “Why did chicken cross the road?” opens “Why Did the Man Talk to a Horse Off in the Bar?,” created by acclaimed artist and musician Lonnie Holley. This song is a haunting, deeply moving meditation upon mortality, religion, and humankind’s relentless search for meaning through the act of storytelling. Holley recorded it at Figure 8 Recording Studio in Brooklyn several months ago, enlisting the help of musicians Courtney Hartman, Elizabeth LaPrelle, Anna Roberts-Gevalt, and Zosha Warpeha.