Five Essential Dark Gothic Country and Roots Albums

Let’s just say that a recent controversy has put the concept of the dark, gothic, subversive side of country and roots music top of mind. Though some outright reject this aspect of country music as being out-of-bounds, the truth is that the mixing of country with dark inspirations either from its past, or from influences from the world of punk and metal and beyond have resulted in some of the most creative, inventive, and spellbinding moments in the history of the country canon.

This exploration of the dark side of country is also something that you can hear going all the way back to Johnny Cash, The Louvin Brothers, and even The Carter Family with the murder ballads, and songs of death, disease, and Satan. It really is an essential part of country music’s legacy.

You could list off an entire library of albums, songs, and artists that symbolize this Gothic country connection. But in truth, much of this music is too fey and inaccessible for the average listener. But if you had to boil it down to five albums that really capture the essence of this dark country approach, what would they be? We’re talking the desert island titles from the subgenre. That is what is included below in hopes that one of these records will resonate with someone and make a new Gothic country fan.

It also happens to be that all of these albums were featured on saving country music previously, and all received the very rare “Two Guns Up” or 10/10 rating. They all still hold up to this very day, though many of them come from the heyday of Gothic/ underground country. And no, this list nowhere even close to complete. It’s purposely abridged to titles that have and will withstand the test of time, and that come with an uncommon accessibility for the subgenre.

But by all means, please check out the catalogs of artists such as Those Poor Bastards, the Goddamn Gallows, Sons of Perdition, the Bridge City Sinners, and so many more, and feel free to leave your suggestions for essential albums below.

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Hank Williams III – Straight To Hell (2006)

There are albums that are a hoot to listen to, and there are albums that sell lots of copies. And then there are albums that help completely reshape music into something different than what it was before they were released. The first two don’t always translate to the third, and sometimes influence doesn’t always equate to sales and enjoyment. But whether these records are recognized by the wide population or not, they’re the projects that change music as we know it, broaden possibilities, and become so influential that the music can be heard in the bones of countless other albums and songs spanning well into the future.

Hank3’s magnum opus Straight To Hell, was one of those albums, and you can’t have a discussion about the dark side of country without including it.

Along with being the first truly DIY album to be released in the country music industry proper, it was also the first album released under the CMA umbrella to include a parental advisory sticker, and the first to be required to be released with a “clean” version for consumer big box stores like Wal-Mart. And most importantly, it put all the disparate elements of underground country under one tent.

In underground country, there was before Straight to Hell, and after Straight to Hell. The album united angry country music listeners with its unabashed country protest songs like “Dick in Dixie” and “Not Everybody Likes Us.” It united country punks, and country metal fans from its hard edge, and Hank3’s affiliation with metal supergroup Superjoint Ritual, and elements of the “insurgent country” scene first championed by indie labels like Bloodshot Records in Chicago. And Straight to Hell did all of this while still being very much a country record, and not crossing the line into country punk or country metal, and even offering something for neotraditionalists to enjoy as well.

But the most lasting legacy of Straight to Hell is the music itself. Angry, raw, explicit, but also erudite in its own way, Straight to Hell set a creative high watermark that arguably has yet to be attained again in country. Many fans only focus on the candid and raw lyricism about drug use and other explicit themes. But Straight to Hell was a concept record through and through. The songs of hard living, while making an excellent gateway for escapism and character creation, lead to the last song on the first album, the 6-minute “Angel of Sin” that resolves in the wisdom of how the lives of it’s characters lead to a dead end. (read review)

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.357 String Band – Fire & Hail

In 2008, a fledgling country outlet called Saving Country Music named its first “Album of the Year.” The award went to the blazing punk bluegrass band from Milwaukee, the .357 String Band, and their magnum opus Fire & Hail. Then in 2012, Saving Country Music announced its Greatest Underground Country Albums of All-Time, and Fire & Hail made it on that list too.

There is no harsher critic, nor more revealing force in music than time. Time reveals all warts and washes away any help from trends and current tastes. But here many years later, no revisions need to be made, no clarifications are called for. Fire & Hail remains a preeminent, timeless release, and one of the most important ever in underground country and Gothic roots, surpassed possibly only by Hank Williams III’s Straight to Hell.

.357 String Band put out 3 excellent albums before officially calling it quits in November of 2011. But Fire & Hail is where banjo player Joesph Huber revealed himself as a brilliant songwriter of marksman first-class caliber. It’s where mandolinist Jayke Orvis revealed his depth of composition, from penning one of the band’s signature songs “Raise The Moon” on their first album, to procuring the heart wrenching “Hold Me Tight” duet with underground country queen Rachel Brooke. It’s where guitar player Derek Dunn codified himself as the hub of the band, and where Rick Ness established himself as one of the most solid back beats wielding an upright bass. (read review)

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Lonesome Wyatt and Rachel Brooke – A Bitter Harvest (2009)

This album was destined to become an underground country classic. The mad genius music mind of Lonesome Wyatt of the Gothic country duo Those Poor Bastards has the uncanny ability to procure the absolute most appropriate sounds to evoke the desired dark mood in his music. Then you combine that with one of the best voices not just in underground country, but in all of music in Rachel Brooke, and magic was bound to happen.

The creativity on A Bitter Harvest is spellbinding. More of an artistic endeavor than a toe tapper, Lonesome Wyatt and Rachel create a soundtrack to human emotion and despair. For people looking for a place for country music to evolve, A Bitter Harvest shows how you can take authentic country themes and an appreciation for the roots of the music, and envelop it in layers of textural color culled from the wide experience of human sounds.

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Slim Cessna’s Auto Club – Unentitled (2011)

At first you don’t know what to make of this album. In places, this is the most accessible, most non-dark music Slim Cessna’s Auto Club ever did, and doesn’t fit the criteria. There are many bands that if they had put out an album like this, grumbles of “going mainstream” or “selling out” would be heard. But The Auto Club is so weird, so fey to begin with, being more normal actually makes them even more weird than they were before, adding to the mystique and mythos behind the band. The fact that you really have no idea what the hell is going on keeps the music interesting beyond the engaging nature of the songs themselves.

This is a country/roots based band, with standup bass, steel guitar, some banjo and even autoharp at times, but it goes much beyond that. “No Doubt About It”, that has almost a cheeky, mid-80’s pop call and answer routine going on in it. “A Smashing Indictment of Character” might sound like a dark song from the title, but the structure is of a lilting, almost Do-Wop 50’s-feeling arrangement. “Do You Know Thee Enemy” and “My Last Black Scarf” might be a little more of what normally is expected from The Auto Club, but they are also wickedly catchy songs; accessible, and infectious.

This band really has an ear for what speaks to people in music from a very basic level, and then knows how to build that into songs without compromising integrity or artistic notion, even using the irony of catchiness as an artistic expression in itself. Despite the bright sounds, Unentitled might be the darkest album in roots music history. (read review)

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Bloody Jug Band – Coffin Up Blood (2012)

Forget the heavily death-infused concept, The Bloody Jug Band released one of the most creatively-spellbinding albums you can find when they revealed Coffin Up Blood. Its funny. Its dark. It never takes itself too seriously. It is as engaging as any album I have listened to in years. You can’t stop listening to it, and when you’re not listening to it, you crave it. Think it’s all been done in roots music? Listen to Coffin Up Blood and prove your ass wrong.

Like a proper jug band, they build out from a washboard, washtub bass, jug, and percussion. So many bands try to move forward with the jug concept, but rarely have the rocks to see it through, eventually relegating the “jug” portion of the band to window dressing while guitars dominate the scene. Here though, the guitars, mandolins and such all are added on top of music that at its core is very rhythmic, very percussion and vocally-based. What is so curious to the ear though is how sensible the music is. Its a jug band, but I can hear influences ranging from as far away as David Byrne and Annie Lennox. This music isn’t just wicked, it is wickedly catchy, and for beginning as a jug concept, it is strikingly well-composed and shows remarkable depth in approach.

And though this album is dominated by dark sarcasm, two very serious songs, “Moon Bathing” and “The Pain” are two of the best tracks on the album, uplifting the entire project beyond a gimmick to something that can offer serious substance. (read review)


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