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Idaho
Songs
Project

GARY ELLER'S

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Paper Texture
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The Idaho Songs Project was started in 2006 for the purpose of finding, interpreting and preserving songs written before the radio era (before 1923) about Idaho's early people, places and events. Such songs provide unique glimpses into the culture of early Idaho from the bottom up. To date, more than 200 songs of this type have been document, almost always from archival sources such as university special collections and museums. Thousands of songs that are of less interest to The Project mention "Idaho" but are more recently written than 1923, and generally are so nonspecific they could be about almost any western state. We are constantly on the search for songs of early Idaho that are unknown to us (see Early Idaho Songs Bibliography link below).

Trapper's Attic Records — the independent, so-called 'record label' established in 2020 — is the brainchild of Idaho folkster Connor Jay Liess. From its earliest conception with deer- and fox-hide lined walls for sound treatment and a 110-year old piano always well-stocked with whiskey, Trapper's Attic Records' focus is more on the process than the end product. Recording and engineering techniques are constantly being tweaked and toyed with like rabbit ears on a 1950's television cabinet. 

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Trapper's Attic will forever be holding a telephone to its ear, listening to the crackles and pops of vintage folk, bluegrass and country music, while keeping its other ear cupped and pointed towards the sound of new experimentalism. 

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