Roky Erickson & Okkervil River

To spin the yarn of True Love Cast Out All Evil, the fibers begin to twist in Rusk State Hospital. Locked up on an insanity plea for possession of one joint, Roky Erickson spent years beside the worst kind of men in the criminal mental facility. After submitting to shock treatment for schizophrenia and to exorcize the LSD and heroine craving demons; he re-entered society a shadow of himself. Nearly unrecognizable as the once ferocious lead of The Thirteenth Floor Elevators - a pioneering act of '60's psychedelic rock and storied muse of Janis Joplin. Paranoid and plagued by night terrors, he spewed dark, tortuous music for a few years until tumbling into his own abyss.

Keep braiding the twine to 2001 in a Texan courtroom where Roky is the knot betwixt a family tug o war over religion and modern medicine. Tethered for years to the care of his mother who prescribed prayer, sensible love and second-hand knowledge from spouting daytime talkshow psychiatrist; younger brother Sumner Erickson looked to gain guardianship of his shadow sibling. Pull him out of poverty and hopelessness; out of his head and into the light. (check out 2005 doc "You're Gonna Miss Me")

With urging of certain central figures and firm hand over hand on the line, Roky has pulled himself to where he is today. Fellow Austinites and temping troubadors Okkervil River incessantly champion him; Will Sheff & Co.'s lush guitars, horns and ivories make Roky's crystallized honey tenor all the sweeter.

True Love's songs blaze with redemption. As true love should.

Roky Erickson & Okkervil River // Goodbye Sweet Dreams