The Dead South

The roots of The Dead South, four friends who wanted to make music together, lie in grunge. Fortunately, the quartet changed their minds quite quickly after forming, threw the drums and electronic instruments out of the window and took the risk of forming a bluegrass band. The roughnecks have been proving how well this works for over a decade now. They were with us in August and brought their outstanding live qualities to our stages, whether it was their surprisingly punky and raspy original compositions or their very own versions of country classics. The two EPs “Easy Listening for Jerks, Pt. 1 + 2” were recently released, on which The Dead South recorded their favourite songs in a new and different way. The first part is dedicated to the traditional side, while part two covers songs by System of a Down, The Doors or The Misfits in bluegrass. “Keep On The Sunny Side”, for example, is turned inside out on stage, and not just because the cheerful major becomes a deeply tuned minor. Instead of the hopeful warbling that the sun may always shine again after dark times, the Canadians’ interpretation is clearly on the darker side of the soul. It is not for nothing that the band themselves say that they are the Carter Family meets the Addams Family. This is great and yet very serious fun live. Singer and guitarist Nate Hilts, Scott Pringle with his mandolin, cellist and whistler Danny Kenyon and Colton Crawford on banjo have taken inspiration from the likes of Hank Williams III and turned an old and deeply traditional genre into an exciting piece of new music. Here, punks become cowboys, and the outlaws sung about here seem to come from all eras. You can see for yourself that this is incredibly fresh next June when The Dead South come to us again – open air.