Halloween Review – Those Poor Bastards – “Songs Of Desperation” (20th Anniversary)

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Gothic country (#590.5) on the Country DDS.

Every year around Halloween, the time is ripe for delving into the wicked catalog of the often overlooked underworld of Gothic country. In 2025, the witching hour happens to fall on the 20th Anniversary of the album that arguably summoned the subgenre into being. It was two decades ago this winter that the overlords of Gothic Country—Madison, Wisconsin’s Those Poor Bastards—released their debut album, Songs of Desperation.

Those Poor Bastards released an EP the previous year, and primary songwriter Lonesome Wyatt had been performing and recording under the name Lonesome Wyatt and the Holy Spooks a few years before that. Other artists and bands had dabbled in the discipline over the years too like Slim Cessna’s Auto Club. But it was really Songs of Desperation that legitimized Gothic country as a something you could make an entire album from, and launch an entire band with.

As a subgenre of underground country, a rabid distaste of what was happening in the mainstream of country in the early aughts was foundational to the music. Those Poor Bastards’ 2004 EP was named Country Bullshit, and started off with with the disclaimer, “I’m warning you friends, this ain’t the sanitized and clean as the neighborhood mall country bullshit you’re used to. No, this is country music as it was meant to be: raw and bleeding.”

Those Poor Bastards and Songs of Desperation came at a time when both punk and heavy metal fans and artists were rediscovering their country roots through performers like Hank Williams III, Mike Ness, X, and Johnny Cash’s American Recordings, then blending those influences with their punk and metal ones, creating a stark contrast to the Y2K country that was straying from the roots of the genre into pop like never before.

For Lonesome Wyatt and his even more mysterious hooded sidekick, The Minister, Gothic country was about taking inspiration from some of the earliest country artists like Hank Williams, The Louvin Brothers, and The Carter Family, and combining it with the innovative sounds of Nick Cave and Tom Waits, along with the guidance from Gothic comics, graphic novels, and the works of America’s Gothic literary masters such as Edgar Allen Poe. This was all brewed in a cauldron of dark thoughts and introversion, and Those Poor Bastards was conjured into being.


Songs of Desperation is probably not the band’s most popular album. 2008’s Satan Is Watching with their big semi-hit “Crooked Man” would probably be reserved for that distinction. But Songs of Desperation was the proof of concept for Gothic country, and includes one of the duo’s signature songs, “With Hell So Near.” It also includes the old traditional song “Death Ain’t You Got No Shame” that helps directly trace the origins of Gothic country to the very origins of American country music.

What makes Lonesome Wyatt and Those Poor Bastards such an interesting specimen of music beyond all the dark and disturbed lyricism is the found sounds and novel recording techniques that are brought to bear in a recording session. There are sounds you will only hear on a Those Poor Bastards album, with origins that are difficult to impossible to trace. This started on Songs of Desperation, though as time has gone on, their sound has turned more Gothic than country in this pursuit.

Those Poor Bastards are definitely a cult band and an acquired taste. But when they found a champion in Hank Williams III who recorded their song “Pills I Took” on his Magnum Opus Straight To Hell (2006) and took them out on tour numerous times, the cult following of Those Poor Bastards went international.

Though they rarely if ever tour these days, Those Poor Bastards, and Lonesome Wyatt through his Holy Spooks project continue to churn out studio albums through Wyatt’s Tribulation Recordings on a regular basis. This keeps the decrepit spirit of Gothic country alive, and has inspired scores of other artists and bands like Sons of Perdition, The Bridge City Sinners, the Bloody Jug Band, and other Gothic country bands.

To mourn the 20th Anniversary of Songs of Desperation, Those Poor Bastards have released a limited edition vinyl copy of the album.

© 2025 Saving Country Music

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