I began Lost Trail as a solo experiment in the summer of 2009. Frustrated with the limitations of band democracy, I decided to focus on short works with an unfamiliar instrument, in this case the piano, which I (as should be obvious to the listener) have no proper idea how to play. I created simplistic and brief recordings of piano paired with the noise of machinery and electronics, very much attempting the early style of David Wenngren’s Library Tapes, before I decided I missed playing guitar enough to return to my original sonic arsenal. Over time, the work stretched in a feverish, unhealthy pace to somewhere around forty full-lengths and various EPs/splits/compilation tracks/B-sides collections/film scores, totaling over 1,500 songs between the summers of 2009 and 2016. We also toured the bulk of the country, my wife Denny soon enlisted as field recording specialist and percussionist.

In June of 2016, leaving North Carolina behind for Memphis, I felt it appropriate to put the Lost Trail name to bed, thus forming the more collaborative-minded (and far better-produced) Nonconnah. Listening back to the Lost Trail releases while compiling this project, I’m struck by how incredibly different from the Nonconnah material these songs are. They’re often angrier and louder, deliberately rougher-hewn and much more lo-fi, and certainly colder/darker and more insular. I tend to prefer my current work with Nonconnah (of which there are a few prescient signposts scattered amongst these tracks), which is a bit more organized and fleshed-out than the manic production pace of Lost Trail at its height, but I can understand the affection people have for our original project. As for me, I’ve mixed feelings about Lost Trail, a half-decade removed from the project’s close. It sounds very much like the lovely, collapsing old 1910 house it was recorded in, a nest of shadows in the ethereally strange and otherworldly town of Burlington, North Carolina. However, it also reminds me of the mental and physical health struggles of those days, as well as the neglect and lack of support from any local ‘scene’, save a few incredibly good-hearted souls. I think I’ve learned a thing or ten about production since then. Perhaps I’m just more patient now, a few years older and on many counts much healthier.

This collection is only intended as an overview, and not any sort of retrospective. These are a handful of favorites of the Lost Trail material I've listened back through, nothing else. As I don’t keep Lost Trail recordings on my current devices, I’ve had to re-access many of the old releases myself, when I’ve been able. At times I haven’t been, and those gaps are worth noting. In attempting this collection, I decided to focus on whatever immediately stood out upon listening, from whatever I could still access via various Bandcamps and YouTube.

This collection is dedicated to the few folks in those hazy central NC days who believed in what we were trying to do:

Bryce Eiman, Spookstina, Nate Wagner, Brian John Mitchell, Grant Stewart, Austin Glove, Andrew Weathers, Sam Martin, Aaron and Josh Brookshire, Mark Hepp, Charles Ovett, Scotty Irving, Eddie Garcia, Tim Collapse, Jeff Blinder, Sam Brown, Al Riggs, Adrian Wilson, Shaun Sandor, Dawn Scott, Sam Martin, Justin Ellis, Glenn Boothe, Paul Gallant, Zack Stamper, Echo Rose, Cassie Conner, Kym Register, Chris Rossi, Matt Guess, Margaux Escutin, Phil Zampino, Kevin Bednar, Mollie Davis, Brian Morris, Jody Harris, McKenna Lakin, Matthew Kohnle, Jesse Gray, Caleb Wagner, Patrick Cortes, Thomas McNeely, Dominick Grande, Anne Gomez, Dave Cantwell, Benjamin Trueblood, Ryan Patrick O'Doud, Tre Harrison, Walter Asbell, Stuart McLamb, Jenni Levenbook, Jess Edison, Caroline Harmon, Dan Grinder, Grayson Haver Currin, Charles Wright, Robert Watson, Elizabeth Watson, Rachael Cohn, Corbie Hill, Jake Seaton, Terry Wilkerson, The Thomas Family, Cyrus Atkins, Tyler Billman, Michael Thomas Jackson, Joe Mazzitelli, Elisa Faires, Van Alston, Gwen Young, Stewart Sineath, J Ryan Boye, Kelly Fahey, The Emotron, Mitchell Bratton, Ted Johnson, Mark Koyanagi, Mic Finger, Chaz Martenstein, Eric Perrault, Betsy Harris, Kaitlin Grady, and anyone else I’m forgetting. A profound thanks from us to you.

Magpie (ZC), Memphis, TN, 10/20/2021

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"Spectral vignettes - snapshots from beyond America's strange periphery that are dislocated from it, but close enough to peer back and capture its slow decay...while Lost Trail's work sometimes recalls (David) Wenngren's bittersweet piano and richly textured drone, the similarities are subtle. The same can be said of Boards Of Canada, who likewise sublimate feelings of loss and a rich sense of nostalgia through analogue crackle and chilly electronics. Perhaps a more accurate comparison would be with The Caretaker's 'Everywhere At The End Of Time'. Where that 2016-2019 project explored the effect of deteriorating memory and dissolving identity, Lost Trail's music makes a parallel examination of place, capturing the fuzzy spaces where old America melts into new." - The Wire