My 2nd full-length album is a mix of folk, rock, and country in moods of magic, mischief, and melancholy.

www.josephhouckmusic.com

Congeries

I'm so glad to have found these special songs on soundcloud! Thanks to all the artist on the list for making this beautiful music… 

Check these songs and artists out! Well worth a listen...

Special Finds

Bullseye

For Dr J

https://open.spotify.com/album/6HaJw4DlBx98ANm1L6D0H4

tyrella.bandcamp.com/album/albedo

Burn Down Another Day

Please listen and follow on Spotify!! https://open.spotify.com/album/68clzodTe7f56kaypMK8ag?si=wifcYdf4Q6OVKqd5Z6vdmQ 

Music, lyrics, performance: Melina 
Arrangement: Cihan Sezer 
Guitar: Paul Dwyer

Dear strangers who call me friend, I've been feeling down
Would you listen, would you care, you've been a little blind
Because I've been pretending to be okay this whole time I've been around with 
Last night's mascara stain running down my eye lid

Maybe I'm too good at hiding, too good at smiling
but faking gets tiring at nights when I'm alone
and I don't have a hand to hold
 
Maybe I'm too good at hiding, too good at smiling
but faking gets tiring while you have your two big
set of hearts to keep you warm 

Dear strangers who call me friend, I've been feeling sick
Would you pour me a cup of tea and hand it to me quick 
Because I've been pretending to be okay this whole time I've been around with 
Past regrets and hopeless dreams and yesterday's filth

(chorus)

Dear strangers who call me friend, I've been feeling good finally 
but how'd you even know that I ever cried oh so silently
it's both of our faults for being ghosts and living distantly 
But I remember trying, trying, trying 

(chorus)

Listen on Spotify!!

dear strangers

Here's one from my forthcoming album "Congeries."  "The Mountain" features several talented artists who kindly lent a hand. 

Drums- Bryan Ciliberto
Piano- Martin Lucas
Pedal Steel- Matt Wilson
Backing Vocals- Anna Houck
Guitar, Bass, Organ, Vocals- Joseph Houck
Mixed by Jon Huxtable

Photo by Laura Rash


Lyrics:
Going up on the mountain
Don't know when I'll be back
All my old friends and lovers
They welcome me back
They welcome me back

And some say the New River
Is as old as the Nile
Like that name they give her
I hope to stay young awhile
Through the last brackish mile

Going up on the mountain
O'er the valleys and hills
Reaching out for new beauty
In the palms of old thrills
As it drains from the hills

Going up on the mountain
No, I ain't coming back
Leaving old cares behind me
Like a ramshackle shack
On a hill gray and black

The Mountain

Good morning, friends! My new album "Congeries" goes live today! It's a mix of country, folk, and rock in moods of magic, mischief, and melancholy. It's available on CD and digital download at Bandcamp.com and other online locations. It's been years in the making, and I got to work with talented individuals to make it happen! Thank you all so much for supporting my music, and I hope enjoy this latest offering!

Visit my website to listen and buy:
http://www.josephhouckmusic.com

Here's track 5 "On That Hill"

Martin Lucas: piano
Joseph Houck: vocals, guitars, bass, organ

Mixed and Mastered by Jon Huxtable

Lyrics

Swathes of leaves on that well-worn path 
In their earthen gully graves 
The woods grow dim, the beasts come out 
From their hidden mountain caves 

His old plank shack in shadows black 
In sweat and pride was built 
Veiled in vines, the once straight lines 
Did sag and drag and tilt 

Chorus: 
The grass grows high 
And in the wind it sways 
And the sun beats down on that hill 

On that hill they call his grave: 

There’s a creek runs down, springs from the ground 
Not too far, where he would drink 
In the summer heat he’d soak his feet 
And rest awhile and think 

And he held the girl he called his wife 
They tilled and grew their crop 
And when the harvest finally came 
She was about to pop 

Chorus 

There he died at a ripe old age 
His son grown, his wife gone 
Next to her he was buried 
On that hill they both called home 

His shack--no room-- an empty tomb 
And the trail would disappear 
But the spring would flow, and it would know 
At last that he was here 

Chorus

On That Hill (featuring Marty Lucas)

Feathertop

And with these words 
I breathe the spark of being 
Upon my latest design 
Dressed so neat 
a pipe, a hat and feather, 
And a coat so fine 
And a coat so fine 

Wooden arms start to animate 
His pipe begins to glow a flame 
He feels hunger he can’t satiate 
He likes the fact he’s got a name 

The papers show our newborn star 
“Hay Man Sweeps the Countryside” 
He stumps in cornfields near and far 
With promises to change their lives 

One day a wind comes and blows right through him 
(His cares had long blown away) 
And left him feeling 
hollow, torn, and jumbled 
So he had nothing left to say 
Ah yes, he threw it all away 

Blind seers exposing the lies 
They hate to say they told you so 
“Couldn’t we see through the disguise?” 
“He’s nothing but a scare-crow!” 

In dried-up cornfields near and far 
Now the crows do as they please 
The papers show our fallen star, 
Riots burning effigies 

An instant heap of sticks and straw 
Has left a sense of innocence 
Perhaps more human than us all-- 
This paragon of emptiness 

The papers show our risen star 
Lit up on holy funeral pyre 
An elegy called “Straw Martyr” 
Is carved into his sepulchre 

And with these words 
I breathe the spark of being 
Upon my latest design 
Dressed so neat: 
a pipe, a hat and feather, 
And a coat so fine 
And a coat so fine


Lyrics loosely based on the Nathaniel Hawthorne story "Feathertop: A Moralized Legend."

Written and performed by Joseph Houck
Mixed and Mastered by Jon Huxtable
Photo by Laura Lee Rash

Song featured on my new album "Congeries" out now! 
Find it here: www.josephhouckmusic.com

Feathertop

You took my hand 
And away we went 
Along the trail 
As the twilight hit 
In the wooded hills 
Where chaos sleeps 
And our souls are kept 
Where the love runs deep 

And your mildness is 
March’s dawning hold 
On a barbwire fence 
That is now turned old 
But it looks alright 
By the living stream 
Where the trees grow high 
Toward stars that gleam 

And all the Springs we’ll see 
On our ancient hill 
While your eyes they shine 
As they always will 
And you plant yourself 
Right next to me 
And the sun goes down 
Here we’ll always be 

You took my hand 
And away we went 
Along the trail 
As the twilight hit 
In the wooded hills 
Where chaos sleeps 
And our souls are kept 
Where the love runs deep

Track four from the album "Congeries"
Available at www.josephhouckmusic.com

Along The Trail

Who Are You Now

Pin It Down

Here's track one from my latest album CONGERIES, featuring Jeff Martin on bass, drums, and backing vocals.

Mixed and mastered by Jon Huxtable (smallfishrecordings).

Lightning-bolts and Hurricanes 
(last verse includes words from “Barbara Allen” Trad. and 
Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” and "Romeo and Juliet") 

Little Darling, 
Who is it wears the ball and chain? 
Take these shackles from my neck 
That I might breathe again 

A storm is raging, 
The ceiling drips with rain 
But summer breaks through 
With lightning bolts and hurricanes 

Now, on the pastures, 
The prairies, and the plains 
Sunlight bathes the lowing cows 
And dries the window panes 

"It's one or the other," 
Old man leans upon his sugar cane 
He says, "Pour us another round 
Of lightning bolts and hurricanes" 

The green buds swellin' 
In the merry month of May 
Rough winds shake my darling, true 
But life teems from decay 

These violent delights 
Must end with violent pangs 
For summer breaks too 
With lightning bolts and hurricanes

www.josephhouckmusic.com

Lightning Bolts And Hurricanes

I've always been a Daddy's girl....
My mum is absolutely brilliant and I love her more than words can say, but when I was growing up, it was always me and my dad who went off together on little adventures. He was my hero and I truly believed that he could do anything. 

I lost my dad to Cancer last year, exactly one week and one day after his 76th birthday. Even though I had known for some time that it was coming, when it actually happened I was totally devastated.

My dad was brave, kind, uncomplaining and a true gentleman right up until the very end.
I miss him each and every day. He's always in my thoughts and I still can't quite believe that he's gone - but memories are strange things, they can be so vivid that sometimes its as though he's still here, and a place, sound, sight or smell instantly makes me feel as though I'm travelling back in time.

Father's Day seemed to be a fitting day to release this track. I hope he would have liked it.

Love you always Dad.

​xx

Travelling In Time

Les Paul + Electric Fiddle > Fender Super Champ X2 
Sketched out and recorded very quietly sometime after 2 am with headphones so I didn’t wake anyone up and didn’t forget it all the next day. Don’t want to keep explaining myself all the time but truth is this was the first time I’ve picked up the fiddle in earnest for about 15 years so was rusty with bowing and tuning etc. When I played it back the next evening, however, I liked it’s informality so might not record a slicker version. . .

In the quiet of the snow
That hides a settlers' path
I stand below the Cut Ridge Pass
And wait 'til you turn home
And wait 'til you turn home

The copper still is drained and gone;
A basement well, of lost resolve
I melt fresh snow upon a stove
And wait 'til you turn home
And wait 'til you turn home

Brew from the melt will sometimes warm
Cupped and idle hands
I'm spent these days in snow-shrunk lands
And wait 'til you turn home
And wait 'til you turn home

And wait ‘til you turn home
And wait ‘til you turn home

Wait 'til You Turn Home

Rolling Rolling Rolling

A L’HEURE OÙ VOLENT DANS LA NUIT LES CHAUVE-SOURIS
MON PÈRE ET MOI TOUT PETIT PAS FAIRE DE BRUIT

ET SOUS LE GRAND PARAPLUIE DES GALAXIES
ON PRENAIT LE VOL DE NUIT DES CHAUVE-SOURIS

MON PÈRE PARLAIT DE LA VIE SANS FAIRE DE BRUIT
IL ME DONNAIT SON AVIS SUR LES CHAUVE-SOURIS

AUX DOUZE COUPS DE MINUIT AU VILLAGE ENDORMI
ON REVENAIT SANS UN BRUIT COMME DES CHAUVE-SOURIS



PETITES BOULES DE SUIE LES CHAUVE-SOURIS
PETITES CHOSES DE LA NUIT A L’AUBE ÉVANOUIES

MON PÈRE EST MORT C’EST LA VIE MAIS RIEN N’EST FINI
JE RÊVE ENCORE LA NUIT DE CHAUVE-SOURIS


A L’HEURE OÙ VOLENT DANS LA NUIT LES CHAUVE-SOURIS
MON PÈRE ET MOI TOUT PETIT PAS FAIRE DE BRUIT

LES CHAUVE-SOURIS (Lyrics) B.Browning cello

yutaka uchida drums...laurent medelgi guitar and back vox..Danny Zanker BAss

Pretty Big Trouble

The last track on the album "Congeries."

Lyric video:
https://youtu.be/GbinZ3TVGi0


www.josephhouckmusic.com

The Shrine

Singer songwriter from the mountains of North Carolina

New EP "Blue Ridge Mountain Waterfalls" out now (Sept. 18th, 2025)

www.josephhouckmusic.com