Pale Horse and Rider

Pale Horse and Rider was a band led by Jon DeRosa, featuring a number of collaborators over its short tenure. Its music ranged from barebones folk to atmospheric, country-tinged indie balladry.

While DeRosa was primarily known for his more ambient/atmospheric project <a href="spotify:artist:2Ly1WdvdasapfbydGfdv2O" data-name="Aarktica">Aarktica</a>, he had previously released several albums of melancholic goth folk as <a href="spotify:artist:3ABLt3UFMKBUeCfTF1tbO0" data-name="Dead Leaves Rising">Dead Leaves Rising</a>, not to mention his work with NYC chamber pop outfit Flare.

DeRosa came up with the separate identity Pale Horse and Rider to delineate his turn toward a more country-tinged sound. This moniker was first used to credit DeRosa&#39;s appearance on The Alcohol EPs (Silber Records), an album consisting of 3 EP-length collections by 3 different artists, released in 2002.

DeRosa soon connected with Alan Sparhawk (<a href="spotify:artist:0wz0jO9anccPzH04N7FLBH" data-name="Low">Low</a>) whom he tapped to record PHR&#39;s debut full length album These Are The New Good Times (Darla Records, 2003). In addition to Alan, guests included Marc Gartman and Nathan Amundson (Rivulets).

In the year that followed, DeRosa and Gartman put together a steady band in NYC to play live. Billed sometimes as Marc Gartman Band, and other times as Pale Horse and Rider, this band featuring drummer Mike Pride and pedal steel player Gerald Menke would unite to record PHR&#39;s second full-length album Moody Pike (Darla Records, 2004) with engineer Paul Oldham (<a href="spotify:artist:2l7DkzVuYJW700mR7r43un" data-name="Palace Music">Palace Music</a>).

They disbanded shortly thereafter to pursue their individual respective projects, as DeRosa continued his work as Aarktica.