Gothic Country
 

I've been getting pretty into "gothic country" music, or doom country, or depressive country, or melancholic folk, or whatever you choose to call it. So far I've been listening to The Handsome Family (thanks, True Detective), Sons of Perdition and some others. What I've been finding is that a lot of this shit is too damn silly for me, and I'm looking for more serious sounding artists. Who else has been into this stuff? Got recommendations?

Here's a sweet song by The Pine Box Boys, because banjos and throat singing...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh1RDwUYZlw

It’s really great posts.

Thanks, robot!

That was really cool! The lyrics and throat stuff, I never thought a banjo could sound so eerie.

Thanks for giving me a whole new genre to explore.

Keep me updated on what you find! I'm having trouble getting into a lot of this stuff because I'll like one or two songs from a band but the rest is annoying, but I KNOW there must be something fucking awesome out there. I guess I'll have to start my own music project to satisfy whatever it is I'm looking for, haha.

Dark Americana. That also describes what I'm looking for. HELP ME, PEOPLE!

Hey. This is a really important topic for me. tbh I think it's a very vaguely defined genre, but I think King Dude is definitely amongst the best I've heard of it (stupid name, I know, but check out Lucifer's the Light of the World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjvYTPQ25-4)
I'd also check out Chelsea Wolfe and Zola Jesus, as well as some neofolk stuff like Current 93.

I hadn't heard of King Dude but it seems all right. I've reeeally been digging on Chelsea Wolfe!

I can't believe I've just checked gnet after all of this time, but procrastination calls. I'm a couple of months late to this thread as well - maybe someone will be interested though.

The stuff posted here reminds me of some psychobilly bands and some neofolk bands. Silliness abounds in the former though.

My favourite neofolk is Rome (although not Americana), especially the album "Masse Mensch Material" (see first link):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t28uRNDOaQQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1qyFumRl7M

Or there's this band:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0USSHqur1Qg

Or some psychobilly (might know these guys already):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=falKiwrMKQc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbODVOMDOew

Death Country?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6Q65yNStcM
High Noon in Killville - Angry Johnny and the Killbillies

I love gothic country. I also love The Handsome Family.

There also is, Lonesome Wyatt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvq2kz9kS5w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eJwjOHAISk

Even though he's considered just "country", I don't think it gets any gothier than Johnny Cash. They didn't call him "The Man in Black" only because of his wardrobe. Plus, his final work included covers of both NIN and Depeche Mode songs.

I also think spaghetti Western soundtrack band Federale has some haunting music that could be considered goth; check out "Black Sunday", which was featured in the soundtrack to the recent Iranian film A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSEIctgofe8

You guys rock.

My favorites right now are Antic Clay and Wovenhand. I still don't exactly know what to call this genre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF8DTAv9RRE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86AH-Yxe39g

I agree on Johnny Cash. And I dunno, maybe I'm off base... but my thoughts would be Nick Cave and Fields of the Nephilim.

Thanks for the Pine Box Boys link - I quite like throat singing and don't find it in much that isn't World music.

Edit: Wait. This might be too country and not dark enough, but try the song Swamp Witch.

Also finding a lot of hits for "dark alt country" with actual band lists. One of them is Sons of Perdition.

Stupid 7 minute edit. I wanted to add in brackets that Nick Cave also wrote a book called "And the Ass saw the Angel", which is Southern Gothic in genre.

Be warned it's very in keeping with the theme, quite dark and can fuck you up :/

I'm really not turned off by country music right now. I've been into Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings and such lately. Jim Stafford's pretty silly though. Sons of Perdition have the sound I'm looking for, but they're just too cheesy. That's the recurring theme I'm having trouble sifting through. Everything ends up being too psychobilly or the lyrics are ~so spooky~ I can't take it seriously.

Wovenhand and Antic Clay remain the winners so far.

Another Wovenhand song where he's got some serious Nick Cave vibes going on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbUX...=RD71fnNk7rW4s

Oh wow - I just reread and I'd missed a line which resulted in me recommending one of the bands you mentioned in the OP. /facepalm. Sorry, I was running on less sleep than recommended that day.

How do you feel about something that's kind of like dark folk? For some reason I wanted to chuck some Dead Can Dance in the mix.

>The Wind That Shakes The Barley
>I Am Stretched On Your Grave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whndX4SLNNM

Can't get enough lately of this song by Sopor Aeternus. It reminds me of Ariel's songs in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

I definitely like the sound of this, don't know how I got so into that show just by the theme song. Of course it's gonna be a corny with the way people think 'goth' is supposed to look/sound/embarrass/blahblah at this point. There's more hope in just listening to the classics all these artists steal from but at their lesser known eras [pretty sure Cash's Unchained or Nick Cave's First Born is Dead would be considerable anthems].
Lee Hazlewood, the album 'Poet, Fool, Or Bum' is one of the most depressing records imaginable. Given terrible reviews but nonetheless brilliant.
That Nick Cave/Lee Hazlewood vocal sound is fucking angelic. Aside from that there's always whiny shit like the Meat Puppets or the Violent Femmes that are gloomy by association.
I wants to make me some Cunt Gawf myself, but do it right.

The song by Beasts of Bourbon "Psycho" This song is so bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk7pxBGLqaM

Came back to say thanks for posting this!

I've been listening to Pine Box Boys (Remember Me, Pretty Little Girl, The Beauty In Her Face) then Youtube autosuggested Angry Johnny and the Killbillies which I'm digging.

Dar He Drone - Jay Munly

(I'm plugging in terms like 'haunting' 'country' at http://moodfuse.com/ and liking the results)

I don't really know anything much about this band/dude - it was sent to me about 5 or 6 years ago, but it's a great bit of weird swamp noise.

Marshland - 5 Prayers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwS8P5-QQXo