A bleak, dust-coated slice of Appalachian folk recorded straight to a field recorder.

Recorded in the Tennessee hills using a basic Zoom H6 field recorder and some warm preamps, Homer Doak's 'Hookworm' is a heavy, completely unpolished piece of dark country. The track relies entirely on a sharp, Chet Atkins-style fingerstyle guitar pattern and a raspy vocal delivery to trace the grim struggles of Doak's grandfather in the old rural South. Rather than hiding behind clean studio production, the song leaves in the physical creaks of the acoustic guitar while recounting real family tragedies, including a fatal mule kick and a sibling's breakdown.

By mixing traditional Appalachian Carter scratching with a cold, hollow atmosphere reminiscent of early post-punk, 'Hookworm' feels completely disconnected from modern commercial folk. It is a dry, dusty recording that lets bleak historical imagery and survival do all the heavy lifting.