Biography
Ned Oldham rounds out the melodiously gifted Oldham siblings alongside brothers Will Oldham and Paul Oldham. He launched the Anomoanon in 1997, assembling the project around the family's established habit of drawing on a fluid roster of supporting players. Whereas Will cultivated a reputation for somber, confessional folk rock, Ned's work centers on southern rock and country foundations. The songs channel Neil Young's southern rock energy through a propulsive, guitar-led arrangement that highlights Ned's own nasal and outgoing singing style. The Anomoanon first appeared on record in 1998 with Mother Goose, a full-length set that reworked classic Mother Goose rhymes in a country-rock manner ultimately deemed too somber for younger audiences. Later that year the band followed with the seven-song EP The Summer Never Ends; Palace Records, the family label, issued both titles. The group returned in 1999 with Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, again drawing on children's poetry for its thematic core. Stepping away from that literary focus, the Anomoanon released a self-titled album in early 2001.