The Holy Southern Ghost and SnakeHandler Syndicate exists as a promotional force and forum for artists, musicians, writers, and visionaries living below the Mason-Dixon line. Claiming its roots in the glorious Shenandoah Valley of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Syndicate dedicates itself to exposing to the world the wide variety of art, ideas, politics, philosophies, and music of the New South. The Syndicate welcomes and embraces artistic and ideological contributions from all Southerners that want and desire to have their voice heard, regardless of race, religion, or sex. The Syndicate does not tolerate hate, bigotry, religious superiority, or discrimination of any sort, so anyone looking to advance the ideals of negative stereotypes that have haunted this region of the United States for far to long should take their close-mindedness elsewhere. However, the Syndicate is not responsible for the content or ideals found on the artists' personal sites, and an appearance of a contributor on this site does not mean that The Holy Southern Ghost and SnakeHandler Syndicate endorses or agrees with the beliefs and ideals of such a contributor. The site thrives on feedback, and thus, if enough people (and I mean more than one or two of you because we do not cater to fringe groups and the site is designed to be an open forum) express offense, anger, or outrage at a contribution, we will remove it. Basically, everyone needs to try and keep an open-mind and celebrate each other's diversity rather than using the forum to launch crusades against ideas or beliefs they don't immediately embrace or accept. However, the Syndicate does encourage intelligent and informed debate and discussion of all art and views that appear on this page. My apologies to all the open-minded individuals who welcome the idea of a place to express themselves in a positive and constructive manner (we do believe that the majority of our visitors and contributors share in our vision), but the disclaimer and waiver serve as a notice to all knuckleheads, racists, bigots, and morons that we will not tolerate your hate, discrimination, or close-mindedness on this site.
(Now that we've established that, we'll give you a brief oveview of ourselves, hahaha)
While The Holy Southern Ghost and SnakeHandler Syndicate exists as a totally new entity unto itself, the artists and musicians comprising the core of this group have interacted and worked with each other for over fifteen years. The majority of members hail from Waynesboro, Virginia, a small community nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but have since branched out to locations all over the world. For those not familiar with Waynesboro, it exists as one of the many industrial and textile towns that sprung up along the East Coast during the early to mid twentieth century, and like many of these towns over the course of the past few decades, it has had to deal with the harsh reality of the collapse of these industries within its city limits. However, art has always had a voice in this Valley hamlet, and it continues to thrive to this day. Visual arts, music, theater, and literature continue to give the natives of this small town a soap-box to use for expressing themselves, and the ideals heard and seen include eveything from political, ideological, and religious messages to a group of kids simply trying to anger their parents, the police, and the world by cranking up their guitars and letting it rip. With Washington D.C. and Richmond close by and easy access to major interstates and highways, young artists and natives from the area have always had major market art and entertainment within a day's drive, and political, artistic, musical, and cultural movements in these major market areas have always had an influence on the art produced in the Valley. Nevertheless, the artists and musicians from the area have always produced projects that possess a distinct Waynesboro and Southern identity.
In an effort to showcase the efforts and brilliant ideas of these individuals, The Holy Southern Ghost and SnakeHandler Syndicate launches this page in hopes of captivating just a few of you with what we have known and appreciated for so long. In addition, we want to open our doors and arms to the multitude of Southern artists and visionaries that have something to say in order to create a positive unity and voice during this fractured era our nation now faces. Of course, we want to have some fun as well, so please, by all means, "raise a little hell and give a Rebel Yell," and join our cyber/digital two-kegger field/mountain bash that always goes all night long without interruption from the cops, hahahaha!!! We want to hear from you, but we also warn you to bring it full on, 'coz round here....we like our rock-n-roll loud, our horns held high, our parties to run all weekend, our beats down low, our top let back, and most importantly...we take care of our own!!!
THE HOLY SOUTHERN GHOST AND SNAKEHANDLER SYNDICATE
CLICK ON THE PLAYER TO PICK SONG OF YOUR CHOOSING, SHUFFLE PLAYLIST, OR ADJUST VOLUME...AND OH YEAH, CRANK THAT BITCH!!!
