stuart pearson

Hate reading? Scroll down to hear the music of
Purgatory, Missouri.

Purgatory, Missouri was born in January 2024 from a lunch Hunter and I had with Maureen Davis, the visionary behind Stage for a New Age Productions.  She suggested turning our music into radio dramas. At first, I said NO!!!! I thought it was a terrible idea!

It dawned on me that an old-fashioned radio drama would be a unique way of exposing our songs to people who otherwise wouldn't know about us. The concept became an odd version of a 1980's music video that was critical to introduce a band's new song to the public. The ideas starting flowing faster than I could write them down. I became obsessed as the story wrote itself. Hunter then turned some things upside down, altering characters, storylines and dialogue to create something even more expansive.

Most of the songs in Purgatory Missouri are from "American Gothic" , along with outtakes from that album (presented here for the curious) as well as songs from our previous albums "Mojave" and "Stories and Songs." You only get a taste of the songs in the show, so here are the full length, original versions. There will be an eventual soundtrack album for Purgatory, Missouri, with new arrangements of these songs. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these nuggets of darkness!