GeoffBS7’s “Just because… ” C and W question, reminded me to dig out this Tex Ritter piece of Grand Guignol. It is the first (and maybe only?) track on my forthcoming Best of C&W Gothic compilation album. Anymore tracks to add?
American (Country and Western) Gothic
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This came to mind immediately.
That was grisly! A murder ballad worthy of Nick Cave.
Here’s Red Sovine with something far gentler.
Great idea for a thread BJB!
You have to have this – Psycho by Jack Kittel – about as dark as you can get!
Believe it or not, there’s a fine Xmas version of that by Western Caravan feat Thirsty Dan.
I play it every Yuletide.
We have to have some Johnny Cash. Folsom Prison Blues perhaps?
Or Ghost Riders in the Sky. It’s been played to death I know, not least on Junior Choice, But it is rather a fine spooky song.
Pretty sure I posted this recently in another context, but it surely fits here….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqWTwTj1d0U
This was an old favourite of my parents:
Snap! My Dad loved that song. When I was about 11 we travelled by train across the US from Florida to San Francisco and I was really excited that we were going to stop at El Paso. It was really boring. Love the song though.
Any song sung by a ghost deserves a place here, And Long Black Veil is not just any song. There are many fine versions. But as Lefty Frizell was the first to record it in1959, let’s listen to his.
Among the great covers is The Chieftains with Jagger. Haunting version.
A little more jaunty than the above choices, but I think the sentiment behind this one fits.
(“Miller’s Cave” – Hank Snow)
This is brewing up to be a genuinely good compilation…well it is one I’d play.
I’m glad to hear that……
Jim White, anybody?
A trio of cheery tunes from Nashville superstar, Porter Wagoner.
Death Row – The Green green grass of home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBNgiC2w42g
Traffic fatalities and infidelity – The Carroll County Incident
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj_dK-O0PP8
Infant mortality – Jeannie’s afraid of the dark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75Mlwdf-U3A
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the magnificent T. Tex Edwards album “Pardon Me I’ve Got Sometime To Kill” a whole album of country death songs including his version of Psycho along with, for example, The Girl on Death Row and You Ain’t Never Gonna’ Live to Love Saturday Night Again. Some versions also include Lee Harvey Was A Friend Of Mine and Blood On The Saddle which are two of my favourites.
That album was made for this thread, John. And it’s on Spotify too.
Here’s another song from Death Row from Loretta Lynn: Women’s Prison.
I’ve forgotten one of the most famous…
There’s something very Gothic about the Carter Family. God fearing people for whom the world was a vale of tears and whose music to my ears is full of sadness.
Here’s a folk song with the true story of a railway engineer, John Hardy, who killed a man in brawl. 3000 people turned up to watch him hang.
John Hardy was a desperate little man
And talking of songs full of sadness where the only hope is the afterlife, here is the Carters’ musical descendant, Gillian Welch, with Orphan girl.
Fire and brimstone? Then we mustn’t forget David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower and Wovenhand, a man whose anguished music is full of faith, pain and redemption.
He features on this list along with a lot of other less known bands with a Gothic flavour. I’m going to add a few to that Spotify list.
http://www.twangnation.com/2009/10/28/10-spooky-gothic-country-halloween-songs/
Far more restrained than the blood-stained ballads on this thread, nevertheless, there’s something rather Southern Gothic about John Fahey.
I am the resurrection
None more country than Sons of the Pioneers, but man! this song disturbs me. I’ve listened to a lot of gangster rap in my day, but this is some fucked up shit! If you’re a man, don’t listen to this. You’ve been warned. Honestly.