Yesterday, I was talking with my dad about western swing and similar country music in a conversation about my grandfather who was a mandolin player in a red dirt/western swing band on old timey radio in Texas during the post-war years. Unfortunately, I was never able to connect with my grandfather through music because I was still fairly young when he passed away, but I put on his favorite band, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, while I was thinking about him and getting some work done.

The Spotify top tracks led me to Steel Guitar Rag from 1936. Shortly after the 40 second mark, you will hear a guitar riff that sent me on a scavenger hunt, texting a couple different friends for help and skipping around songs for half an hour. The riff felt really familiar but more uptempo in my head than in the Bob Wills track. My first thought was the band WOLF!, maybe a track like Humdinger. Good song but not it. A friend of mine suggested Folsom Prison Blues, but that has a distinctly different riff in it.

Eventually, it struck me that I knew the riff from a King Curtis live album from 1966, I just needed to skip around until I found it in one of the tracks. The track is titled Medley: Peter Gunn / Get Long Cindy, and the riff starts after the 3:25 mark. Pretty similar don't you think?

Howdy folks.

Some of you will be pleased to find that this is a ~music post of mine not about emo rap, hahaha.

Across the past six months I've found myself infatuated with a new sound I can't quite put the finger on. These songs have something in common, in spirit. And that's what I'm after.

Here's a little playlist I've assembled under the title of Soul Goth. If you have any other recommendations, give me everything you got.

Or if I'm describing something what already exists; let me know.

Yalla.

"God's Gonna Cut You Down" x Johnny Cash

"Pray I Won't Wake Up" x Honky Tonk Hustlas

"No Sugar In My Coffee" x Caught A Ghost

"In A Week" x Hozier

"In Hell I'll Be In Good Company" x The Dead South

"Loud And Heavy" x Cody Jinks

"The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie" x Colter Wall

"When Jesus Comes" x Uncle Sinner

"The Devil Had a Hold of Me" x Gillian Welch

"Fingers To The Bone" x Brown Bird

"The Piano Has Been Drinking" x Tom Waits

"Graves" x Whiskey Shivers

"Burn The Witch" x Shawn James