''Houston Publishing Demos 2002'' is a demo album by

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

artist

Mark Lanegan Mark William Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022) was an American singer and songwriter. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the Stone Age ...

. It was released on August 21, 2015 on

Ipecac Recordings Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999, by Greg Werckman (ex-label manager of Alternative Tentacles, ex-lead singer of DUH, ex-employee of Mercury Records) and Mike Patton (Faith N ...

, although it was recorded thirteen years earlier. Musicians who played on the album include Lanegan collaborator

Mike Johnson James Michael Johnson (born January 30, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 56th speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2023. A member ...

, guitarist Ian Moore, and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

's longtime harmonica player

Mickey Raphael Michael Siegfried Raphael (born November 7, 1951) is an American harmonica player, music producer and actor likely best known for his work with Willie Nelson, with whom he has toured as part of The Family since 1973. He has performed or record ...

Recording

In his book ''I Am the Wolf: Lyrics & Writings'', Lanegan writes he traveled to Houston in 2002 "to fulfill a publishing contract I had signed with an old friend, producer and label head Randall Jamail, a talented man who took no shit from anyone and who would not have been pleased if he knew the honest state of my unprepared and unraveling songcraft, such as it was." Lanegan wrote many of the songs in the parking lot on the spot as the band overdubbed in the studio. As he recalls in ''I Am the Wolf'': Mark Deming of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

: "The arrangements are full-bodied but leave plenty of open space, which suits the dusty overtones of Lanegan's melodies, and this music is a fine match for the phantoms and lost souls who populate Lanegan's songs (ten of which get their first public hearing on this release). ''Houston: Publishing Demos 2002'' is by no means a lost masterpiece, but in many ways this is more satisfying and a better platform for Lanegan's talents than ''Bubblegum'', which was his next solo effort, released in 2004.

Track listing

Personnel

* Mark Lanegan – vocals *

– acoustic and electric guitar * Ian Moore – guitar, sitar * Bukka Allen – keyboards, accordion *

Steve Bailey Steve Bailey is an American bassist. He is the chair of the bass department at Berklee College of Music. Career Bailey began playing bass guitar at age 12 and started playing fretless bass after he ran over his fretted Stuart Spector with his ...

– bass * Keni Richards – drums *

– harmonicas *

Jon Langford Jonathan Denis Langford (born 11 October 1957) is a Welsh musician and artist based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Langford is a founder member of the punk band The Mekons, the post-punk group The Three Johns, and the alternative count ...

– cover art

References

{{Authority control Mark Lanegan albums Ipecac Recordings albums 2015 albums Albums produced by Alain Johannes 2000s demo albums