In 1997 Low Estate, 16 Horsepower's third album, was released. Subsequently the band of charismatic singer and lyricist David Eugene Edwards was shrouded in silence for a long time. Successor Secret South is in the shops now, a mysterious record full of magnificent music. In January of this year Edwards and drummer Jean-Yves Tola visited Amsterdam for a day.

Behind the bar people are searching for the keys to the liquor-cabinet, because Edwards wants a shot of whisky and Tola needs a glass of good claret. The co-workers of VPRO's Club Lek are doing their best and at the same time are worried about the tab. Edwards waits, coolly, lights a cigarette and enjoys the commotion. The cabinet, so it turns out, could be opened and the gentlemen's glasses are filled.

Edwards: 'The title Secret South covers the contents of the lyrics and the music. It's an album full of mysteries. The lyrics I wrote are about secrets from my youth and secrets I'm still keeping today. Anybody can listen to those lyrics, but I don't want to talk about them. I do not want to and I can not explain them. Not because of the mystery, but because I have already given my everything in those lyrics. It's up to the listener to interpret them, my job is done. My grandfather was a pastor in church. Therefore religion had an influence over me, I felt the power of the sung word and I'm still feeling it. It isn't hard to sing about my secrets on stage, not even when I have to do that night after night. The secrets develop, evolve, I reflect on that and sometimes I talk to people about this. Then one of my secrets has become a topic of conversation and I can decide to what extent I will share my secret. The South in the title represents America's south. It indicates a direction, not an exact location. My musical influences are rooted in the south. The church, gospel, choirs, cajun, swamps, all these things, to me, are in the word South.'

In 1995 16 Horsepower made its debut with an eponymous 6 track record. Sackcloth 'n' Ashes followed in 1996. The third album Low Estate was well received, especially in Europe. For the most part the lyrics and music were written by Edwards.

Tola: 'David writes the lyrics, but this is the first album on which the entire band is responsible for the music (16 Horsepower, besides Edwards and Tola, consists of bass-player Pascal Hubert (sic) and guitarist Steve Taylor). Low Estate was produced by John Parish and although we were satisfied with his work, we wanted to produce this album ourselves. A producer is a filter, he is. We did not want that for this album, we didn't want a set of ears from outside the band, no influences from a non-bandmember. In addition there were the problems with the record-company. It may sound as a cliché, but that was rather a handful. After Low Estate we did a lot of shows in America and Europe, and when we came home it became clear that our contract with A&M was about to be dissolved. There was no bust-up, but they wanted to get rid of us. That was in 1998. We wanted to continue but we had no income and no deal. That's how we worked in 1998 and 1999. Eventually we signed with Glitterhouse. Not because they made the best offer, financially speaking, but because they were interested in our music. That too seems to be a cliché, but it really is important for us. We had some good conversations, that weren't about money, but about music. They were difficult years, financial as well as psychical, but they were good years too. We went through a sort of no man's land, but we kept believing in the music we're making. That resulted in the Glitterhouse deal and in Secret South.

Edwards: 'This album is a major step forward for the band, and not just because we have survived that difficult period. We returned to our roots, we returned to our youth. The second track on the album, Wayfaring Stranger, captures the atmosphere of sometime somewhere early last century. That is what we wanted, musically, to go back further in our own musical history and making a step forward doing so. By digging deeper, recording new sounds, by going back further, we ended up in the year 2000.'