Patterson Hood (ft Waxahatchee) - The Forks Of Cypress

February 18, 2025 Max Mazonowicz

The Forks of Cypress a real place, a few miles just north of my hometown of Florence, Alabama. A former plantation house, once owned by a cousin of Andrew Jackson, it was struck by a ‘lightning cluster’ in 1966 – when I was two – and exploded into flames, burning to the ground in under five minutes. All that was left were these huge columns, in a rectangle on top of the hill overlooking the meadow. It was right by a very creepy rickety one lane bridge that the locals called Ghost Bridge. I drove past this (and crossed the scary bridge) every week of my childhood on my way to my Great Uncle’s house (where I spent every weekend). Later, as a teenager, kids would drive dates out to Ghost Bridge and tell ghost stories and make out. The bridge was torn down about a decade ago. I wrote the song as pure fiction, inspired by those great story songs that Bobbie Gentry did, an ‘Ode to Billie Joe,’ etc., where she implies a story without really telling it. In my head, I heard Katie Crutchfield singing it with me and was blessed that she was willing to do so. She’s one of my very favorite artists, and such a lovely person. The song was fleshed out wonderfully by Phil and Brad Cook (who played keyboards, dobro and bass on it), Dan Hunt on drums, and then Kevin Morby put the cherry on top with a stunning lead part. Whipped cream and cherry.

Patterson Hood

Taken from his forthcoming record, Exploding Trees & Ariplan Screams, The Forks Of Cypress is increasing our anticipation of Patterson Hood’s new record. His first solo album in over a decade.

You can find out more on Patterson’s website, and preorder the album. It’s due out Friday 21st February 2025.