MySpace a place for friends

Trappers Mind 2008	For My Friends 2006	Blue Sky Black Bear - 2005
Buy at CDBaby	Buy at CDBaby	Buy at CDBaby
Buy from Itunes	Buy from Itunes	Buy from Itunes

Based on his background, Joel Nettesheim should be a Will Oldham style folkie, mumbling mournful murder ballads over gently picked acoustic guitars. But Nettesheim, a Milwaukee native who makes his home in North GA Mountain country, comes up with something much stranger if not down right bat shit insane for his musical project Trappers Cabin. Nettesheim’s latest, Trappers Mind, is an acid fueled survey of American roots music with a Beatles’esque twist, sort of like if Dark Side of the Moon had been made by Paul McCartney. It is a pretty mind blowing record and one of the best left field surprises of 2008.

-Steve Hyden- The Onion (May-2008)

TRAPPERS MIND - 2008

Trappers Cabin, the musical project of Georgia's Joel Nettesheim, makes some of the most interestingly odd and unclassifiable music around. On Trappers Cabin's latest record, Trappers Mind, Nettesheim blends art-rock, freak-folk, psychedelia and space-rock, and throws in plenty of surprises. From song to song, the sound twists and turns, and the result is an eclectic mix of music tied together by its collective goofiness. The record opens with an eerie, spoken-word intro, set to a spacey lead guitar and ambient electronic drones. Strangely enough, the track is reminiscent of the beginning of OutKast's Stankonia, but by the end, Nettesheim engages in a folky Americana rap. Then there's the fractured nursery rhyme, "Puppy Piglets." From the song's sweet but twisted words, it's hard to tell if the audience is meant to smile or grimace: "I had a dog that had sex with a hog / and now I've got pretty puppy piglets." The most easily accessible song on the record, "Cosmically" features twangy alt-country vocals and simple acoustic guitar, with the theme of cosmic love echoed in the song's dreamy, layered harmonies. Trappers Mind is Trappers Cabin's ninth album. Nettesheim says the record is tied together in its goofiness, which he attributes to his love for Beck, Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart. "I've realized that I had just so many of those types of songs laying around that I would kind of put them together in one album," Nettesheim says. "I think overall, my older albums people may relate to more, or even enjoy listening to more, but I think this latest album definitely represents me the best — or at least me right now." Nettesheim is currently working on the next Trappers Cabin record, which he says will be "old man on his porch" acoustic songs.

FOR MY FRIENDS - 2006

Trapper’s Cabin: “Running Down the Rain” from For My Friends------

Trapper’s Cabin is the music of one man, Joel Nettesheim, an art-folk singer-songwriter who lives and works in the north Georgia mountains. One of my coworkers passed this CD on to me and I loved it immediately. It’s kind of discouraging in a way to know there are people out there like this guy… people who are gifted and talented, writing great songs with a great voice, etc. And nobody knows who they are. I’d love to make music full time and make a living from it, but what hope could there possibly be for me finding an audience when people like this guy, who are way better than I’ll ever be, can’t get anyone to listen? I’m probably being overly dramatic. I don’t even know anymore. But one of the things I love about this song is that it’s actually several songs in one. It morphs over time into something that bears no resemblance to the way it began. That’s great song writing. Think of the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” and the changes it goes through beginning to end.

-Robin Hilton - Producer for NPR's All Songs Considered

******************************************************************

"Welcome" (Trappers Mind)




"Puppy Piglets" (Trappers Mind)




"The Waltz" (MTM)



"Educated Guess" (Blue Sky Black Bear)





"The Yellow Llama" live at the Star Bar (Atlanta, GA)





Live at the Cactus Club (Austin, TX)





Here's a great thang from the "You Crazy Dreams" music blog:

"While copypasting Susana's interview with Ben Sollee , I was checking that NPR List of Best Unknown 2007 Artists . One of them retained all my attention : Trappers Cabin. Best Unknown Artists : Isn't it crazy to deserve such a prize for a guy who had released 7 full lengths ! Two solutions : Joel Nettesheim (the famous unknown Trappers Cabin) is making noise for his own pleasure & and is streaming his own songs on his myspace for his self-masturbation - NPR staff are smoking mushrooms."


Trappers Cabin song "Running Down The Rain" will be heard in a new movie entitled "The Sharp End" - check the trailer: