Steve Shell (Old Gods of Appalachia) Presents ROOM TO SWING AN AX
About this Event
"Wonderful!" - Daniel Wallace, Big Fish
"There is no one remotely like Alex Dawson. A riveting, one-of-a-kind storyteller." - Joyce Carol Oates
"Dawson's head is full of ghosts, and he summons them with a poet's precision. Gather round, believers, Room To Swing An Ax is a beautiful and brutal séance." - Clay McLeod Chapman, Ghost Eaters
"You will leave this show shattered but rebuilt. Don’t miss it!" - Bob Makin, The Aquarian
FROM: The team that brought you last year's "spellbinding!" (Kevin Smith, Clerks, Chasing Amy), "mesmerizing!" (Asbury Park Press), "absolutely stunning" (Reactor), "weird and wonderful!" (2026 Pulitzer Prize Winner Daniel Kraus, Angel Down), "BADASS vaudeville show!" (Rue Morgue Magazine), The Devil & Daisy Dirt, comes a brand new fever-dream hoedown, featuring the critically acclaimed writer/performer Alex Dawson and the award-winning folk singer Arlan Feiles.
ABOUT: Like Waylon Jennings' memoiristic Man Called Hoss, Alex and Arlan use spoken word and ten biographical ballads to pull you through the mud and blood of Dawson's harsh but magical life on a haunted horse farm in rural Alabama. Beginning with the morning his stepdad, a rancher named Doc, hit him in the head with a 5-pound Fireside Friend; ending with the old man dead, buried by bucket loader, among his horses, whose legs had to be chainsawed off before they could be dug in. There are witches in the woods, snakes in the lake, ghosts in the barn, and trapped in every bent tree is the soul of someone who died wrong. Think Big Fish meets Blaze Foley.
WITH: a special introduction and reading by Steve Shell of Old Gods of Appalachia.
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ALEX DAWSON is a creative writing professor at Rutgers University, where he teaches courses steeped in folklore and leads fable-fueled Study Abroad programs to some of the planet's most mystical places. His forthcoming novel, Welcome to White Hart, has been called “magical and masterful...Narnia by way of Faulkner,” by Lev Grossman (The Magicians), “a total jawdropper!” by Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl), "a truly original Rough South fable" by Jason Rekulak (Hidden Fortress), and "a wild new spell that will dazzle you" by Julia Liz Elliot (Hellions). He is the writer/director/star of The Devil & Daisy Dirt, which is being adapted into a comic book “Presented by Kevin Smith,” with art by Tom Mandrake (Swamp Thing) and Bill Sienkiewicz (The Demon Bear Saga, The New Mutants). He is the creator/owner of The Rac-On-Tour, a mobile bookstore built on the back of flatbed farm truck.
ARLAN FEILES is an award winning, internationally touring Asbury Park singer/songwriter and music producer mentored by the late great Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame record producer Tom Dowd. Feiles recorded tracks for his unreleased album, Troubled Monkey, backed by members of The Band: Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson. He recorded early demos with Foo Fighters/Nirvana frontman Dave Grohl, and the award-winning composer Stephen Trask handpicked Feiles to join the original touring company of the hit Broadway rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He has released six critically acclaimed records, and his music can be heard in many TV programs and movies, including the trailer for the Academy award winning film The Dallas Buyers Club. Feiles has shared the stage with major music icons, including: Joan Baez, Warren Zevon, Dave Matthews, Richie Havens, and Hot Tuna. His band is The Brokenhearted.
STEVE SHELL grew up in Wise County, Virginia, on top of Coeburn Mountain, but now lives in the western hills of North Carolina. He is the co-creator (with Cam Collins) and narrator of Old Gods of Appalachia, an acclaimed, award-winning eldritch horror fiction podcast (and tabletop roleplaying universe). In past lives he has been a nationally ranked slam poet, a MainStage performer and host for The Moth Story SLAM, and the frontman for various punk and hardcore bands based in Appalachia.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 21.40
