The Snake the Cross the Crown came together in Huntsville, Alabama, when brothers Franklin Sammons on guitar and William Sammons on keyboards and programming linked up with Kevin Jones, who handled guitar and vocals, and Carl Marshall, responsible for bass and vocals. The musicians first appeared under the name Curbside Service and issued the album I Packed My Bags a Year in Advance in 2002, after which they adopted their present moniker and recruited drummer Mark Fate. Following a move to Santa Barbara, California, they delivered the EP Like a Moth Before a Flame on Waste of Time Records in 2003. Inspired by the Beatles and Radiohead, they issued the full-length Mander Salis on Equal Vision Records the next year. A stretch of touring alongside mewithoutYou, Hot Rod Circuit, Decibully, and Armor For Sleep preceded growing frustration with their musical direction, leading the band to cancel remaining dates and return to California to develop new songs. The musicians entered the studio in April 2006 to capture their follow-up album, drawing additional influence from Bob Dylan and The Band for the resulting folk-leaning, alternative-country material. Now operating as a quartet without Marshall, the group released the ten-song Cotton Teeth in March 2007.
