Southern Gothic Rock
tagStarted 1992Peak 1996-2008Last big hit still activeFrom US South, United States
Located in 2 routes
Dark, sacred-haunted Americana fused with gothic and post-punk dread. Banjo, fiddle, accordion and bottleneck guitar churn under Old Testament imagery of sin, judgment and redemption, delivered in trembling, hellfire-preacher vocals. Murder ballads and revival-tent fervor meet minor-key menace; the South becomes a haunted, biblical landscape.
History
Pioneered in Denver in 1992 by David Eugene Edwards' 16 Horsepower, who cross-bred Appalachian bluegrass and gospel with gothic rock and post-punk. Edwards continued the vision in Wovenhand, while Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Those Poor Bastards and Indiana's Murder by Death built a 'gothic Americana' underground that flourished on independent labels through the 2000s.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Black Soul Choir — 16 HorsepowerSpotifyYouTube
- Dirty Blue — WovenhandSpotifyYouTube
- This Is How We Do Things in the Country — Slim Cessna's Auto ClubSpotifyYouTube
- Comin' Home — Murder by DeathSpotifyYouTube
- Pour the Misery — Those Poor BastardsSpotifyYouTube
- Far From Any Road — The Handsome FamilySpotifyYouTube
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_country
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Horsepower
- https://www.gothiccountry.se/articles/west/16-horsepower.html
- https://rateyourmusic.com/genre/gothic-country/