Whose country is this, anyhow? On the new Folklore (Jetset), Sixteen Horsepower circles its Southern-gothic chuckwagon and (on six of 10 tracks) makes hay of Carter Family and Hank Williams covers, plus performances of traditional Hungarian and Tuvan numbers. Shit, there’s a mazurka, too, if you care about that sort of thing. But it’s all meat for the apocalyptic grinder of a band that once released an album called Sackcloth ‘N’ Ashes, a band whose singer/guitarist (David Eugene Edwards) is the Pentecostal image of David Carradine in Kung Fu: a preacher, a wanderer, a longhair, a black-clad action figure with eyeliner and a studded Stetson hat. Folklore is Sixteen Horsepower’s bleakest bleat yet, balancing the brimstone morality texts (old-timey justice, illicit sex and death, sinners seeking redemption) with the awesome weight of the music. It’s one long groan from the ghosts of the Old West—or way back East, as the most ill-winded track here, the Tuvan “Horse Head Fiddle,” employs a particularly spooky disembodied voice-and-violin drone you could hang an innocent man to. Not since Nick Cave’s last record has wallowing in the guilt of others been such a pleasure.

Edwards spoke to MAGNET from his mile-high perch.

Denver has been surrounded by forest fires for most of the summer. How’s it feel to be inside the ring of fire?
The sunsets are beautiful, but it’s been hard to breathe. The air is filled with ashes, and even though it is sunny above it, the light is dark, the sky is gray and heavy.

Why interpret a number of traditional songs on Folklore? Did the specific songs serve as an inspiration for the original material?
No, not really. We had some of our own songs and traditionals and covers we wanted to do. We just recorded songs that have influenced our music from the groups and people we admire as well as putting our own voices alongside. The record we wanted to make was based on sounds and atmosphers. More space, less arrangements. Slower tempos.

Do you feel compelled, as a Christian, to bear witness to your faith via your songwriting and singing?
Yes. There is no other way. Music is His creation. A way to know Him and ourselves better.

Themes of sin, death and loss seem to hang over many of your songs like an anvil.
I guess I am trying to get the point across that all of us are in need of salvation; that we are dead in our spirits and minds and need the grace that has been offered—no matter how good we think we are.

Don’t you think you make people uncomfortable with these themes?
Of course. It is only natural for us to think that we are OK and that we are our own masters.

If it’s true you have to walk in the shadows in order to see the light, then where have you been walking lately?
More often than not, in my own selfishness.

Have you spoken to Nick Cave about all this? Because I think the two of you could start some sort of support group.
No.

You’re about to embark on a tour in Europe, where you’re quite popular. Do you think they appreciate certain forms of American music more so than we do ourselves?
I think to some degree, it is maybe more exotic to European folks, just as their music is to me. We still feel that we could have comparable success in the States. Europeans have easier and better ways to inform themselves about art in general than in America. The media is more diversified, more accessible and covers a much wider range of art forms and styles.