elkhorn
photo by Brennan Cavanaugh
Drew Gardner and Jesse Sheppard, the two-guitar duo of Elkhorn, share a musical brotherhood that spans several decades. From their nascent high school socialist-realist post punk band, Mayfirst, to teenage scavenger trips to the Princeton Record Exchange and City Gardens, the two came of age goofing along to the Dead Kennedys, the Butthole Surfers, and Sonic Youth in the dank Jersey/Philly-scene music holes.
After college in the nineties, Drew moved off to San Francisco and got deep into the free jazz/energy music scene as a drummer, where he collaborated with John Tchicai among many other heavy hitters. Post-college Jesse was transfixed by the modal excursions of ‘70s electric Miles Davis and the exploratory prognostications of King Crimson and Jimi Hendrix.
When Drew moved back east in the late ’90s, the two were again in the same place at the same time, and it was only natural to play music together. A few years later Jesse decamped to the Philadelphia suburbs to raise a family and pursue filmmaking, and in the process discovered both American Primitive music—Jack Rose was living in Philly at the time and performing regularly—and his instrument—twelve-string acoustic guitar. Around the same time, Drew picked up the Fender Telecaster again, with an ear toward the extended electric solos of classic rock and a foundation of improvisational practice at his back. At a casual affair in the late aughts the pair picked up a couple of acoustic guitars and the nascent sound of Elkhorn was born.
The inherent duality of the band—acoustic/electric, traditional/modern, 12-string/6-string, fingerpicking/plectrum, ostinato/lead—coalesced to create the unified Elkhorn sound. They played their first show in 2013, and put out three official releases as a duo over the coming years: Elkhorn (Beyond Beyond is Beyond, 2016), The Black River (Debacle, 2017), and Lionfish (Eiderdown, 2018). First touring the East Coast in 2016; West Coast and Mid West tours followed, including appearances at DebacleFest in Seattle and The Milwaukee Psych Fest.
Recording the double albums Sun Cycle and Elk Jam (Feeding Tube, 2019) at Black Dirt with Jason Meagher, the duo fluidly expanded to include Willie Lane on third guitar and Ryan Jewell on drums and tabla, presenting the project for the first of what would be a series of collaborative sessions. The following year they returned with The Storm Sessions (Beyond Beyond is Beyond, 2020) and The Acoustic Storm Sessions (Centripetal Force / Cardinal Fuzz, 2020), featuring long-time friend, Turner Williams on shahi baaja and electric bouzouki. Next, the band went into Jeff Zeigler's Uniform Recording with drummers Ian McColm and Nate Scheible to create the soaring landscapes of the Distances album (Feeding Tube, 2022). The double duo concept was in turn followed by On The Whole Universe In All Directions (Centripetal Force / Cardinal Fuzz, 2023), on which Drew plays both vibraphone and drums. Elkhorn demonstrates again and again that there is no height they won't scale, no direction they won't travel.
Elkhorn music unfolds at its own pace. It is music with a point of view and momentum. It begins with an intention to be sincere and fully expressive in the moment, and often results in musical journeys toward transcendence. The duo is multitudes. The duo is one.