![]() It’s got Southern Gothic’s signature spiritual torment in spades. “ Blood on My Name” hits all the Southern Gothic buzzwords. “Blood on My Name” by The Brothers Bright The chorus sings, “Hold my hand / Ooh, baby, it’s a long way down to the bottom of the river.”Ģ. They were, quite literally, damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. If they drowned, their name was cleared in death if they could float, they were condemned as a witch and killed anyway. ![]() During the Salem witch trials, women famously faced bogus trials, such as being thrown in the water. In the music video, lead vocalist Brittany Hölljes plays a young woman accused of witchcraft. By the North Carolina band’s own definition, they make “gospel-tinged country-rock, sensual blue-eyed soul and harmony-laden Americana.” Southern Gothic is about providing a haunting quality, after all, and what’s more haunting than naked vocals? The band embodies the “interdisciplinary” approach of Southern Gothic. The traditional instruments take a backseat in this tune. The impassioned work song is buoyed by the beat as well as multiple voices that add to the beat in snaps and hums. “Bottom Of The River” appeared on Delta Rae’s first album, “Carry The Fire,” and remains one of their most popular songs to date. So, if you’re looking to discover a new genre, check out these songs. Unlike most musical genres, Southern Gothic is defined more by its regional subject matter and elusive vibes than one distinct sound. The whole genre is a fascinating melting pot of rock, Western, folk, blues, old-time and traditional Appalachian ballads with their own Scottish-Celtic background. Vocals typically include an eerie blend of blues, country and gospel music. The acoustic is often undergirded with heavy percussion that builds momentum and shows the rock influence that moves Southern Gothic further away from country, especially the more monotonous modern stadium country. If you hear a song talk about the devil stealing your soul, challenging you to a banjo playoff or going down to Georgia (basically anything that uses the word “devil”) or that makes you feel like you’re being chased through a foggy forest by a pack of hellhounds or like you’re sitting under Spanish moss in a crumbling, 200-year-old graveyard, chances are you’re listening to Southern Gothic.Īlso called dark folk, Southern Gothic music generally employs lots of string instruments, like the banjo or the bass. Like most good art, it was born out of deep spiritual confusion and a yearning for identity, community and inheritance. It grapples with the myth of the idyllic antebellum South while appropriating some of its aesthetics. Southern Gothic broadly explores madness, decay, ruin, damnation and the disillusioned values of old Southern gentility. Its land is quite literally soaked with blood, and its music can be appropriately dark and grim. The American South is an extremely haunted region - thrilling ghost stories and tales of the uncanny aside, the bloody legacies of slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow and ongoing racism haunt its identity and always will.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |