Ghost Creator Band News
New Album!!!
Father-Son Creative Duo to Release Music & Poetry Collaboration “Half Country Heart” via Horse Fuel Records
CORNWALL, VT — On October 15, 2025, Horse Fuel Records proudly presents Half Country Heart, a powerful and deeply personal collaboration between father-son team Sam and Gary Margolis. Blending original songs and poetry, the album features performances by acclaimed Americana collective Ghost Creator and highlights the unique intergenerational bond between two lifelong creators.
Half Country Heart brings together the songwriting and production talents of Sam Margolis—frontman of Ghost Creator—with the celebrated poetic voice of his father, Gary Margolis, an award-winning poet and psychologist. The album stands as Ghost Creator’s sophomore studio effort, following their 2024 debut The Other Side, and marks the first studio collaboration between the Margolis men.
Conceived in Cornwall, Vermont in 2021, the concept for Half Country Heart initially took the shape of a call-and-response between Sam’s songs and Gary’s poems. Once in the studio, spontaneous jam sessions with Ghost Creator evolved the project into a dynamic fusion of music and poetry, where extended instrumental passages created space for Gary’s voice to enter with poetic lyricism that elevates and deepens the musical narrative.
The result: ten emotionally resonant tracks—five songs and five poems—that explore themes of love, loss, healing, protest, travel, human sacrifice, and the pursuit of happiness. One standout, “I Won’t Give Up – Consider Yourself,” features special guest harpist Mikaela Davis (Kill Rock Stars), adding an ethereal layer to an already moving performance.
“For me, Half Country Heart is the collaboration of a lifetime,” says Sam Margolis. “A dream come true to work with the incredibly talented musicians in Ghost Creator, alongside my poet-father, Gary. He’s been one of my greatest influences.”
“I can still hear my son, Sam, guitar-strumming in his childhood bedroom here in Vermont,” reflects Gary Margolis. “Now, to come together across the miles—as poet and musician—composing our voices and lives, this is a father’s dream realized.”
About Ghost Creator
Ghost Creator is New England’s premiere Americana collective, known for their genre-spanning sound rooted in rock, roots, country funk, blues, and reggae. The band is led by Sam Margolis (Comanchero, Omar Rodriguez Lopez), and includes a lineup of seasoned musicians: Marty Ballou (Peter Wolf, John Hammond) on bass, Marco Giovino (Robert Plant, Norah Jones) on drums, Sonny Barbato (Lori McKenna, Mark Erelli) on keys, and Andy Santospago (Vance Gilbert, Susan Cattaneo) on guitars.
About Sam Margolis
Sam Margolis is a Vermont-born, Boston-based multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer, and producer. A Newport Folk Festival alum and 2024 Worcester Music Awards nominee, Margolis has worked with artists including Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Malcolm Holcombe, Vance Gilbert, and Rachel Sumner—whose song “Radium Girls” received a first-round GRAMMY® nomination. Sam co-owns Riverview Sound in Waltham, MA, with his partner Shannon OBrien.
About Gary Margolis
Gary Margolis is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet and longtime mental health counselor. He is Emeritus Executive Director of College Mental Health Services at Middlebury College and the author of nine poetry collections, including Fire in the Orchard and What It Means To Be Happy. His work has been featured by NPR, Time Magazine, and ABC News.
Half Country Heart will be available on all major streaming platforms on October 15, 2025, and can be pre-ordered—along with Gary Margolis’ books of poetry via Bandcamp.
Song / Video Review
By Ken Templeton, Red Line Roots
"A video that begins and ends with a close up of a gravestone with the singer’s name on it might not sound like it would feature an upbeat, bouncy song–but that is the case with Ghost Creator’s earworm, 'The Other Side.'
The song has wry lyrics reflecting on the simple things that make our ephemeral existence tolerable, and you’ll be singing along by the end. Frontman Sam Margolis sings with timing that is sometimes just behind or ahead of the beat, perfectly underscoring the song’s tone. And you can tell they had a great time making this video, as Sam dons a huge variety of outfits, playing an equally broad array of instruments, in locations as varied as a graveyard and the middle of a river. In essence, if we’re only here for a little while, we might as well have some laughs."
Check out the full review on Red Line Roots here.