The story of the poetic end of Charlie Birger. An American gangster publicly hanged in April of 1928 for finding himself of the wrong side of power.

Neither Jew Nor Greek

A descendant of Mississippi River paddle steamer card-sharks can’t escape the pull of his breeding. He knows he’s wrong but the thrill of the kill is just too strong in him.

Confidence Man

Truth and light from the Shawnee Hills won't die in the smoke and mirrors of Chicago glass.

The Railroad Killer

Flooded

A recently divorced husband has to pretend that it never happened at his wife’s funeral.

Closed Casket Reconciliation

A man gets divorced and becomes so depressed he can’t leave his bed.

Second Day

A man compares himself to Samson when he runs out of options in his own home.

Let This Temple Fall

A man tries to have a life outside his home but realizes it’s just not possible.

No Room for Twelve

A man pictures Christ getting beaten by the Romans as he receives his twice-daily tongue lashings.

Tongue-o'-nine-tails

A man watches as his wife becomes self-absorbed through self-development.

The Dead Eye Scrolls

An old man watches as a man fresh out of prison cases the home of his neighbors, a young family. The man makes his move and meets his end in their laundry room.

Gray Sweats, White Shoes

Fred and Ethel, a poor farm couple, hire two migrant laborers with criminal backgrounds out of the goodness of their hearts, only to fall prey to them.

Red Farm Hands Pt. 1

The story of the Blair family: a clan of scrappers living off the fat of the land in Franklin County.

Hot Skin and Cold Blood

A broke mechanic decides to end it all, but is saved by a young boy who wanders into his garage at the right moment.

Exhaust Shun

A preacher’s daughter gets pregnant and the congregation votes to bar her from the sanctuary. She's married in her family's living room instead: the right thing done the wrong way. Told from the father’s view, it's about a man of God learning the weight of mercy through a humiliation ritual. A song about faith and rules without compassion, and how the righteous can become cruel when judgment masquerades as obedience.


A Bible Belt Van Eyck

A study in a pride and distance and perspective — where letters, titles, and old ambitions crumble under the weight of conscience and time. A song about knowing too much, too late.

The Ambassador of Regret

Gene Flowers painted the Midwest like a prayer — colleges, tree farms, homes and rust. This one’s for the forgotten artists whose canvases outlived the diners they hang in.

Flowers Among the Masters

For every young back who hauled more than he was paid for. An ode to blistered palms and bad deals, and how the soil still remembers who labored on it - the good, the bad, and the cheap.

The Hayhands

A father and a son climb down into a frozen goose pit every weekend, trying to thaw years of silence in the rest of their lives. He teaches him how to kill waterfowl – how to aim, how not to waste a good setup. Everything except how to live his life as an unbroken man. A song about the kind of love that only gives itself up when the setup is perfect.

Hunters in the Snow

A spirit trapped in the community hall, watching a century of dances unfold—waltz to square dance to rock to silence. The world changes, the joy hangs around, in one form or another. A song about time, memory, and the stubborn need of people to move and touch, even after the tune changes.


Ghost of the Peasant Dance

A working-class high school girl, terminally ill, taken by her teacher and his wife to Glamour Shots in University Mall in Carbondale. A borrowed dress, a bargain pair of pearls, one last photograph. A song about eternal grace caught in a flash of light, and the small mercies people try to make live on forever.

The Girl with the Pearl Earrings

A Midwest farm couple keeps losing what they’ve planted—fields, unborn children, dreams. The wife’s womb turns against her, the husband’s hands turn against the earth, and both of their minds turn against their happiness. Over time, the house grows quiet enough to hear the clock think. A song about depression and miscarriage in the heartland, where faith tries to endure but joy withers in the frost. The black dog circles the house every night, waiting for the door to open, so he can chase the good things away.

Melancholia (The Black Dog)

A father on disability drives his blind son to the airport for college—his boy’s first flight, his own first time at the airport. When the agents turn the father away because he doesn’t have a ticket, he buys the cheapest ticket just to walk beside his son to the gate. A song about fathers and sons, sight and surrender, sacrifice and different paths—the moment love learns that leading sometimes means letting go.

The Blind Leading the Blind

He was every 90s Southern Illinois archetype - half hero, half hangover. The life of the party in a world built on loud cards, louder music and big bar tabs. Lived hard, laughed harder, and hit the wall before he saw it coming. A song about charm that burned out and good times that outstayed their welcome.

The Not So Laughing Cavalier

ROOTS REGIONAL COUNTRY

(yes, computer supplementation is used where needed, hence the CRT heads.)

Franklin County Coding Company

Pinned to spotlight

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