If anyone reading this has had the pleasure of viewing my Spotify (or AirBuds) listening activity over the past year, you’ve probably seen me borderline obsessively listening to Ethel Cain’s discography. Nothing else quite satisfies the mood of a late night drive through the backroads of southwestern Pennsylvania like “Preacher’s Daughter” with its hellish storyline and haunted ambience full of booming guitar, delicate piano, and even the buzzing of flies. Although Ethel Cain’s music fits into a handful of genres ranging from dream pop to Americana, I think it best embodies the often forgotten genre of gothic country.
Gothic country is exactly what it sounds like: a fusion of gothic rock with country and Americana, often using a gothic lyrical approach that focuses on dark and religious subject matter and combines it with folk instrumentals. This genre of music is also often called Southern Gothic, sharing similar themes to the renowned Southern Gothic genre of literature. Famous Southern Gothic literary works include “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The Color Purple,” and “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” all of which explore themes of violence, decay, religion, and the supernatural and their relation to Southern culture in the wake of the Civil War. Thus, similar to the widely known Southern Gothic literature, artists such as Ethel Cain explore these same themes musically.
Hayden Anhedönia’s story of Ethel Cain explores a culture full of religious and generational trauma, violence against women, and isolation. The combination of Anhedönia’s powerful voice with soft guitars, eerie piano, and occasional harmonica truly create a Southern Gothic ambience where you can almost feel the decaying “House in Nebraska” that she sings about or the small Alabama town where Cain is supposed to be from. Lyrics such as “Give myself up to him in offering/Let him make a woman out of me/I’m just a child but I’m not above violence” and “They say heaven hath no fury like a woman scorned/And baby, hell don’t scare me/I’ve been times before” in “Family Tree” beautifully tie together themes of religion and the female experience. The entire story of Ethel Cain truly makes the listener question the treatment of women within religious institutions (specifically within the Southern Baptist Church), as women are praised as gifts from God while their husbands simultaneously abuse and belittle their wives and daughters. Ultimately, Anhedönia’s “Preacher’s Daughter” is a beautifully written 13-track album that combines both the grotesque romance of Southern Gothic literature with the folk ballads of Americana, creating a groundbreaking and provocative gothic country album.
To finish off this article, I’ve included some of my favorite gothic country and Americana songs that are just haunting enough to add to any Halloween playlist:
Family Tree – Ethel Cain
Heron Blue – Sun Kil Moon
The Devil in Mexico – Murder by Death (featuring Gerard Way)
New York Girls – Angels Of Light
I Walk The Line – Those Poor Bastards
