The Horse Flies

about

The Horse Flies are an American alternative rock/folk band, founded in the late 1970s under the name "Tompkins County Horseflies" by husband and wife Jeff Claus and Judy Hyman, Richie Stearns and John Hayward. All members of the band emerged from the old-time music scene of the 1970s. They brought a sophisticated post-punk sensibility to the playing of old-time music. Songs by Claus and Stearns included surreal elements that simultaneously evoked the weirdness of Appalachian folk imagery and the alienated perspective British and American independent-label rock bands of the 1980s. This link was perhaps most explicit in their reworking of the Cramps' "Human Fly", the title cut of the Horseflies' first album. Claus' homage to their adopted hometown of Ithaca, New York, "I Live Where It's Grey" recalls early Talking Heads and Devo, but the mechanical precision is executed on traditional acoustic instruments. Stearns' adaptation of the lullaby "Hush Little Baby" transforms it into a series of heartfelt promises from someone who has little but offers everything. Their second album, "Gravity Dance" (1991) threw the musical balance greatly over to the rock sensibility. Claus's "Sally Ann," later re-recorded by Natalie Merchant, retains the band's connection to Appalachian balladry, and their interpretation of a traditional French waltz keeps them in touch with their roots in string-band music for dancing. But Stearns' "I Need a Plastic Bag (to Keep My Brains In)" and Claus's "Life

top songs

albums

Until the Ocean

Human Fly

Gravity Dance

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In The Dance Tent

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The Horse Flies

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Fresh Oldtime String Band Music

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KCRW's Today's Top Tune

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Telluride Bluegrass Festival

Where The Rivers Flow North

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14 Reasons - Ithaca Music Sampler

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Singing Clear: Clean Earth, Air, Water 'Round Here

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In the Dance Tent (live) (1996)

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