Captain Yonder was an anomalous man, but we will persistently confront the half-truths and speculations that have begun to exaggerate and sometimes soil his memory. We insist on remembering him as he was -- not as a media construct. For instance, a Wyoming newsman recently asserted that the Captain was a convicted arsonist. In response, we exhaustively searched a federal databank for the circumstances of the alleged conviction. The search failed to even turn up the Captains name. The following, however, is true. Captain Jack Yonder (who was never a captain) was a brilliant musician who died unrecorded and virtually unnoticed last spring. At his timely death, Yonder bequeathed Mr. Pfeiffer hundreds of original song tabs and lyrics, many incomplete. Within a month, Mr. Pfeiffer retreated into the studio to record Whence, Whither Hence, the Sordid?, which consists of songs the Captain and Mr. Pfeiffer worked on together in the course of their several-year friendship, and then of the other songs Mr. Pfeiffer pieced together from the inherited materials. The results were sufficient to impress Dave Fridmann of the Flaming Lips and producer Bill Racine, who invited Pfeiffer to record at their studio (Tarbox Road Studios) in New York. With his newly formed band (named in the Captains honor), Pfeiffer accepted Fridmann's offer and recorded Mad Country Love Songs, which consists of Pfeiffer's own American-gothic songs about madness, infatuation, solitude, country and nature.Current PersonnelRyan Pfeiffer: Voice, Preaching, Guitar, Baritone Guitar, Cello. Ryan recently quit his job as a staff attorney for the federal government in St. Louis, MO (where he specialized in criminal appeals), and moved to a log cabin in northern Michigan, where he lives alone in the woods and attends the Great Lakes Maritime Academy by day. He recently finished writing his third album, called A Shirtful of Ephemera, and hopes to soon proceed into the studio to record it. When not holding a musical instrument, a motorcycle wrench, or a maritime device, he might be seen with a can of Old Style, a fishing rod and some Orwell in his lap. Esme Schwall: Cello. Esme is a cello teacher, an English teacher and a Francophile. The daughter of hippies, she has confessed to secretly envying the hobo and his unattached modus vivendi. The only problem is that animal glue doesn't fare well in the rain. Craig Johnson: Drums/Percussion. Craig is a highly qualified recent addition to the Yonder enterprise. He has played extensively with the Deadstream Frogs, as well as various noise collectives and Native jamborees. A better horses clop could be generated by no man east of the Mississippi (or Austin, for tha tmatter).James Scab Edlund: Guitar/Wurlitzer. Ryan's former college roommate and 10-W-40s long-time front-man. When not playing a wide assortment of musical instruments (including his own pink-naugehyde upholstered saloon piano), James can be found trolling pawnshops for musical/recording equipment and working on his home studio. Like Ryan, James is a fisherman of wishful repute. James will join the Yonder enterprise for select performances.