Dark Americana

 I've mentioned it a couple times now: I really love the dark Americana vibe of singer-songwriters/bands like Steve Von Till, Scott Kelly, Man's Gin, Dax Riggs, and Wino's most recent solo album. And it seems to be the music that best fits my mood when I think about 9/11.



This kind of music is tough to define, and that's why I can only call it a "vibe". Sometimes it's rock, other times country, and other times folk--but maybe it could be something else, too.


One thing that strikes me, thinking about this music, is how all the names I could mention are metal luminaries--from Neurosis, Cobalt, Acid Bath, and Saint Vitus. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that one more musician clearly fits the category: Johnny Cash. I've been a Cash fan for a long time now, and I've always been interested by the fact he seems to be a bigger influence on rock music than on country, even though people call him country. From "Folsom Prison Blues" in the 50's up through Ain't No Grave, no one else embodied that spirit like the great Johnny Cash.



And what metal genius does Cash lead us back to? Glenn Danzig, of course. He's touched on the dark Americana vibe a few times, but never better than the acoustic version of "Come to Silver".



But I started thinking that metalheads and Cash can't be the only ones doing this kind of music. Not much on Bandcamp, but The Ragtones fit the bill:



Napatista is yet again something diffeent, playing music that sounds like Spaghetti western soundtracks. The mood is right:



And there are others out there, such as Wovenhand and Stone Breath:





There's plenty of other stuff out there that's been described as "dark Americana", but very little of it appeals to me like these do. I hope this music suits your mood as well as it suits mine on this tenth anniversary of 9/11.