(North) American Gothic

Amy Wright

While they can be useful in matters of organization and general understanding, genre classifications also have pitfalls. Near the top of the list is the question of scope. No matter how broadly they might apply or how specific they might get, see Heavy Metal for an example of how numerous sub-sets can be, there is always something that lays outside the recognized definition. One of the oldest genres of music, what is now called "Country" is also one of the least understood and most derided. This is largely due to genre confusion. What most people now think of when they hear the term "Country" is actually what is known as "New Country". 

Devised in the early-1990’s and propagated by the likes of Shania Twain and Garth Brooks, New Country is an unholy alliance of traditional Country and Rock & Roll, hence the pyrotechnics. While traditional Country, now called "Old Country", has its own conventions that may or may not be enjoyed by all, there is also more than one way of interpreting them. Bluegrass is technically under the Country banner and generally more well liked than its twangy, hurtin’, cheatin’ brethren. There have also been cases of the form being applied to Metal as in the case of Hank Williams III (who actually is Hank Sr.’s grandson) and even Anarcho-Punk in bands such as Blackbird Raum. 

Another counter-intuitive combination, that none the less exists, is the blending of Country with elements of the spooky. While there have been elements of the macabre in roots music going back to the beginning,  the form has seen something of a renaissance in the 21st century. Starting out slow with songs such as the title track of  Neko Case’s breakout 2000 album Furnace Room Lullaby, the style has gotten more popular up as things have gotten worse.  

One of the most famous acts to use the style in recent years is The

Pierces. Comprised primarily of sisters Allison and Catherine

Pierce, with help from a rotating roster of back-up musicians, the

duo started performing in 2000. Loved but undefined, the sisters

have had all manner of terms applied to their sound including

Psychedelic Rock, Psychedelic Pop, Folk Rock and Indie Pop. While, to be fair, their has been a change in sound between their studio albums to date, their third, Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge, really only has one term that encompasses it. It is an old, evocative term once used to apply to art. "American Gothic". 

While they vary, sometimes greatly, in terms of tempo and tone there is one factor that remains, which is the combination of Americana and the darker parts of American history and culture, particularly in the South. There is a reason that True Blood was set below the Mason-Dixon. It is also telling that the Pierce sisters hail from Birmingham Alabama. While some might refer to the track "Secret" as the best example of this, there is a stronger case to be made for "Sticks & Stones". 

"Secret" is creepy to be sure and has overtones of familial deceit and murder. "Sticks & Stones" on the other hand, evokes a deeper, more visceral fear of a power greater than one’s self. The first whispers "betray me and I will kill you". The second shouts "there is nowhere to run!" An overall sense of the otherwordly that that permeates the entire album. Including, arguably, the gentlest track "Three Wishes." Far more on the love side of things, the track has dreamlike quality and an overwhelming sense that everything will be okay. 

While little known outside their native soil, the Canadian band Hank & Lily, the genre does have a tendency for duos, are one of the best and original acts going. Comprised of Hank Pine and Lily Fawn, the band take a D.I.Y. approach, releasing all their material themselves. They also tour extensively though rarely get past the Rocky Mountains. Despite their geographical specificity, they really do something special. In addition to music Pine and Fawn also appear in a comic book series, often sold as a package with their albums, which are written and illustrated by Pine himself. 

The story is complex, sordid and funny, casting Fawn as a part human, part deer creature and Pine as a member of a cult known as the Acolytes of the Second Sun (A.S.S.) and potentially a serial killer. Fawn first meets him while he is hitchhiking on the highway with the corpse of his beloved, whom he may or may not have killed, after evading the authorities following a massacre at the trailer park where he lived, which he may or may not have committed. 

The later comics tell their continuing story as they go on tour and try to build a new life, constantly blurring the lines between fantasy reality and posing the question as to whether Pine and Fawn are supposed to be a band with a comic book tie-in or real-life versions of comic book characters who are in a band. Their music carries on this sense of dark surrealism, adding elements such as cello, singing saw and even choirs to the standard guitar and drums. Particularly on their album North America. Song titles include "Alligator Boy", "Humans" and "Lucifer". The last of which actually starts with the lines: "Everyone I know is going to burn, in Hell, oh well/But if Lucifer were here, he’d tell you why, oh why, he Fell". Which might explain why they do not tend to play gigs in the Bible Belt.