Nineteen Hand Horse: Influences and Birth of the Band

Nineteen Hand Horse likes the old country and western music and if you are reading this, so do you.

But something has changed. Since the song “Streets of Bakersfield,” we started to recognize that country music is more than the hills of Tennessee, the Monongahela River or the hollers of Kentucky.

Country music never leaves the heart even when we don’t live in those iconic places.

We understand that country music is more than country. The stories we tell in song are shared experiences, desires, pains and love songs that echo through those country scenes even as we are stuck on a commuter train or living room in a virus lockdown.

Nineteen Hand Horse is the soul of country in the songs of the country.

When we first got together, it was the discovery of the natural and intuitive blend of voices that sealed it. While we were aware of Nathalie’s songwriting and musical talent and accolades in the pop and techno dance genre, we also knew that kind of talent deserved the support of mature and seasoned musicians to shortcut to the path of performance excellence. We knew we had more than a garage band right from the moment we struck the first chord and fell into our natural sense of tightly blended harmonies.

What influenced the birth of this band within a country genre was the ability to tell the kind of stories that resonate with real life angst and joys. And with Mark Montijo’s upbringing on a real western horse ranch and Mark Monroe’s deep roots in Appalachian culture, it just seemed the perfect vehicle within which to express our stories and mutual respect in performance.

Nineteen Hand Horse was born from the joy we felt when we played from this space, and the driving need of all performers who believe enough in the experience and stories of their songs to want to share them with others.

Come along with us as we ride together on this path of the shared cultural storytelling which is Nineteen Hand Horse’s unique style of country music. Just as you can taste the love in food when it is prepared with attentiveness and loving care; the same holds true with music. Musicians with love for each other and for their music affects what they have to give to the audience.