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February 4, 2011 12:36 PM   Subscribe

I want raw, dingy music about shady characters navigating the dark corners of American society.

context: I've been listening to The Hold Steady's discography on repeat, and Craig Finn has a way with words that really hits home, like you're standing there watching these characters descending a downward spiral.

Stories of downward spirals told through a distinctly American perspective (possibly with a touch of redemption) are the kind of songs and lyrics I am looking for.

Another good example would be The Mountain Goats with songs like "This Year" and "Fall of the Star High School Running Back."

(I don't want to discourage any suggestions, but you can probably discount most Mellencamp/Bon Jovi/Journey "Johnny used to work on the docks" type songs.)
posted by clearly to Media & Arts (69 answers total) 31 users marked this as a favorite
 
Nick Cave Nick Cave Nick Cave
posted by AugieAugustus at 12:42 PM on February 4, 2011 [7 favorites]


Switching genres, but Atmosphere's Americareful does that to an extent in its two verses.
posted by General Malaise at 12:44 PM on February 4, 2011


One that's been burning a hole in my playlist lately is Grounds for Divorce by Elbow.
There's a hole in my neighborhood
down which of late I can not help but fall
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 12:45 PM on February 4, 2011 [2 favorites]


Ah, they're British. Ah well.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 12:46 PM on February 4, 2011


If I understand your question, I think Tom Waits has several of these. Swordfishtrombones, Gun Street Girl, pretty much all of Mule Variations.
posted by rocket88 at 12:47 PM on February 4, 2011


It's the second time in as many weeks as I've rec'ed the dude on AskMe, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Bruce Springsteen is the godfather of fringe characters trying to make it on the dusty edges of a frayed Americana. I get what you're saying about Journey/Bon Jovi arena rock, and I know some people lump Springsteen in, but despite sometimes sharing a similar sounds, he's a much better songwriter than that.

Try all of Nebraska, as it's dark and acoustic and crawling with those shadowy figures. Some songs are redemptive, some aren't.
posted by superfluousm at 12:49 PM on February 4, 2011 [4 favorites]


Response by poster: Nick Cave Nick Cave Nick Cave

Can you narrow this down at all? I love Grinderman 2.

Grounds for Divorce by Elbow

A great example of what I am looking for.
posted by clearly at 12:50 PM on February 4, 2011


Response by poster: Ah, they're British. Ah well.

But yea, still, good example. They definitely capture the raw and dingy part.
posted by clearly at 12:51 PM on February 4, 2011


About 2/3 of Tom Waits' music. Seriously, just pick an album. Or what others have said.

If the classic 'murder ballad' fits your bill try Murder Ballads by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and many songs by The Handsome Family.

Jim White is a fine (and underrated imho) songwriter who mostly writes songs about dark subjects and people on the fringe of society. All of his albums are excellent.
posted by elendil71 at 12:52 PM on February 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


Atlantic City by Bruce Springsteen (but I like this cover by the Band)
Play It All Night Long by Warren Zevon
posted by milk white peacock at 12:52 PM on February 4, 2011


While not all of their songs fit your description, there are enough songs by the Drive-By Truckers that probably fit the bill. They write really, really great story songs and can rock out to boot.

Sinkhole
Where The Devil Don't Stay
Puttin' People On The Moon
Women Without Whiskey

That's just a sample up above. DBT is one of my favorite bands and I can't wait to see them live in March.
posted by friendlyjuan at 12:54 PM on February 4, 2011 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: I know some people lump Springsteen in, but despite sometimes sharing a similar sounds, he's a much better songwriter than that.

Can you give me a few standout albums, or a time period as a starting point? His discography is intimidating.
posted by clearly at 12:54 PM on February 4, 2011


Response by poster: Jim White is a fine (and underrated imho) songwriter

Great call. I'll leave The Wound That Never Heals here for others interested in this question.
posted by clearly at 12:57 PM on February 4, 2011


Can you narrow this down at all? I love Grinderman 2.

Yes: Henry's Dream ... and probably also The Firstborn Is Dead.

Obviously, he's Australian, but much of his music has the feel of what you describe. In particular, I cannot hear "John Finn's Wife" without thinking of a dirty, deadly Old West town. I can't speak to Your Funeral...My Trial or Tender Prey; never heard them.
posted by AugieAugustus at 12:58 PM on February 4, 2011


Yeah, happy to - given your guidelines in the original post, Nebraska is likely going to be the album that's most in your wheelhouse. Give that a try, and if you like it, then go on to Darkness on the Edge of Town.

He's always written about lost souls and strivers and con artists and people caught up in circumstance, etc, but a lot of his music that I think you'd like lyrically has an arena rock sound ("Born in the USA" is an example - a great song, lyrically, that captures an American zeitgeist of frustration and helplessness but is a big, big "rock" song.) The two albums I mentioned come out of a period where the arrangements for his songs were fairly spare, the music was looser, and his voice was more raw and less growly than it is now.
posted by superfluousm at 12:59 PM on February 4, 2011


They're "alt.country" (whatever that means) but Richmond Fontaine's songs are pretty much exactly what you're talking about. Each one is like a Raymond Carver or Denis Johnson story. In fact, lead singer / songwriter / lyricist Willy Vlautin has also published three novels that can pretty much be summed up with your description of "downward spirals told through a distinctly American perspective (possibly with a touch of redemption)."
Some samples: 1, 2, 3.
posted by dersins at 12:59 PM on February 4, 2011 [4 favorites]


Response by poster: Robert Francis - Junebug
posted by clearly at 1:06 PM on February 4, 2011


Can you give me a few standout albums, or a time period as a starting point? His discography is intimidating.

Nebraska and Devils & Dust.

Other recommendations:

Johnny Cash
Lifter Puller (The Hold Steady before they were The Hold Steady)
The National
Murder City Devils
Titus Andronicus

... and both Blues and Hip-Hop as genres, obviously some of those artists will handle it better than others.
posted by togdon at 1:07 PM on February 4, 2011


You might like Murder By Death.
posted by amelioration at 1:07 PM on February 4, 2011


There I was putting together some Richmond Fontaine links, and dersins gets there first...
Here's a few more, anyway:

Capsized
A Ghost I Became
Western Skyline
The Disappearance of Ray Norton
The Janitor
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:08 PM on February 4, 2011


Real quick on Bruce then I swear I'll stop proselytizing: yeah, togdon, agree - Devils and Dust is a good Springsteen for OP to check out as well.

Also try The River. Bruce Springsteen - The River.

On a different note, then someone mentioned alt-country I also thought of Okkervil River. If you like the Mountain Goats' sound you may cotton to them as well. Here's one of their story songs: Okkervil River - Westfall
posted by superfluousm at 1:12 PM on February 4, 2011 [1 favorite]




Heh. Funny that the two suggestions for Richmond Fontaine come from someone in Portland (where they're from) and from someone in the UK (the only country that seems to appreciate how good they are)...
posted by dersins at 1:16 PM on February 4, 2011


Richard Buckner deals a lot with the lost and lonely, and does it with a unique voice. Your best point of entry might be, strangely enough, The Hill (ignore the video, listen to the song): an adaptation of the Edgar Lee Masters Spoon River Anthology; a set of poems (now songs) that tell the stories of the residents of the Spoon River cemetery. Since is also great, especially Ariel Ramirez.

If you want a one-off, the most perfect "grifters n' ramblers" song I've heard in -- years, really -- is Gunfight Epiphany, the theme song to the super awesome, short-lived FX show Terriers. I have no idea what else Rob Duncan has recorded, but this is a great upbeat song about downbeat people. It doesn't capture the downward spiral musically, but the lyrics are great.
posted by Shepherd at 1:16 PM on February 4, 2011 [2 favorites]


Cop Shoot Cop. And, while I don't know whether it's exactly what you're looking for, Firewater's "The Golden Hour" covers some of that, and also has the distinction of being a Perfect Album.
posted by Because at 1:17 PM on February 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Okkervil River - Westfall

We went out one night and took a flashlight,
out with these two girls Colin knew from Kenwood Christian.
One was named Laurie, that's what the story
said next week in the Guardian.

And when I killed her it was so easy
that I wanted to kill her again.
I got down on both of my knees and...
She ain't coming back again.

Now, with all these cameras focused on my face,
you'd think they could see it through my skin.
They're looking for evil, thinking they can trace it,
but evil don’t look like anything.

whoa.
posted by clearly at 1:19 PM on February 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


Nthing the two Springsteen albums recommended above. He's a national treasure. He does not belong in the same category with those eighties bands.

I'd also add two tracks from Born to Run -- "Jungleland" and "Meeting Across the River." There are surely many, many others. "Streets of Philadelphia," "Luckytown," etc.

Other great chroniclers of the seedy and the marginal--the Pogues (Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash and Hell's Ditch--hell, most of their oeuvre) and Old Crow Medicine Show's album Tennessee Pusher, all about poverty and meth addiction.

And Townes Van Zandt, especially "Pancho and Lefty."
posted by tully_monster at 1:21 PM on February 4, 2011


You want Todd Snider's album "The Devil You Know," especially the songs "Old Times" and "Highland Street Incident." The first is about a pool hustler who runs into his high school sweetheart (who is a hooker). The second is written from the perspective of two muggers.
posted by Brodiggitty at 1:21 PM on February 4, 2011


Waits is easily the most obvious choice. Cave has some good ones, it's true. For what you're looking for I'd think "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" fits the bill, lyrically.


Larry made his nest up in the autumn branches
Built from nothing but high hopes and thin air
He collected up some baby blasted mothers who took their chances
And for a while they lived quite happily up there

He came from New York city man, but he couldn't take the pace
He thought it was like dog eat dog world
Then he went to San Francisco, spent a year in out space
With a sweet little San Fransiscan girl.

I can hear my mother wailing and a whole lot of scraping of chairs
I don't know what it is but there's definately something going on upstairs

Meanwhile Larry made up names for the ladies
Like miss Boo and miss Quick
He stockpiled weapons and took potshots in the air
He feasted on their lovely bodies like a lunatic
And wrapped himself up in their soft yellow hair

I can hear chants and incantations and some guy is mentioning me in his prayers.
Well, I don't know what it is but there's definitely something going on upstairs

Well New York City man, San Francisco, LA, I don't know
But Larry grew increasingly neurotic and obscene
I mean he, he never asked to be raised up from the tomb
I mean no one ever actually asked him to forsake his dreams
He ended up like so many of them do, back on the streets of New York City
In a soup queue, a dopefiend, a slave, then prison, then the madhouse, then the grave
Ah poor Larry

But what do we really know'f the dead And who actually cares?
posted by Decani at 1:22 PM on February 4, 2011


And one more-- Fred Eaglesmith's Lipstick, Lies, and Gasoline.
posted by tully_monster at 1:22 PM on February 4, 2011


Townes Van Zandt. Start with Marie.

Guy Clark has some that fit. Try The Last Gunfighter Ballad.
posted by maurice at 1:23 PM on February 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


(All typos copyright the crappy site I found the lyrics.)
posted by Decani at 1:23 PM on February 4, 2011


Can you give me a few standout albums, or a time period as a starting point? His discography is intimidating.

Just start at the beginning, I feel like his schtick starts to get a little calcified after the 6th studio album but the early stuff is all great and very much in the vein you're describing.

Jack Logan's catalog holds a fair amount of what you're looking for, I'd suggest Bulk and Mood Elevator.
posted by nanojath at 1:24 PM on February 4, 2011


Stan Ridgeway. Warren Zevon. Southern Culture on the Skids (shoot, it's right there in the name). Some of the Asylum Street Spankers' stuff.
posted by adamrice at 1:25 PM on February 4, 2011




(I'm haunting the shit out of this thread, but you guys are killing it right now with great suggestions and I keep thinking of other songs)

Devil Town, originally by the weird and wonderful Daniel Johnston, covered capably by Tony Lucca, and used to great effect in the also excellent Friday Night Lights (which explains why I could only find fan videos on YouTube.)
posted by superfluousm at 1:30 PM on February 4, 2011




Strawfoot, Chasing Locusts. It's a bit traditional in theme, but somehow also tongue-in-cheek. Cut out 'My Dog' if you just want the bleakness.
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 1:47 PM on February 4, 2011


Lou Reed.
posted by ashotinthearm at 1:55 PM on February 4, 2011 [2 favorites]


I don't think much can touch The Hold Steady in terms of their ability to really narrate a scene with that energy. I know there are plenty of other artists that do just that, but they have a way of pulling me in that others don't.

Anyway Drive By Truckers was mentioned already but the album Decoration Day stands out to me. Really solid story telling but doesn't have the pace of The Hold Steady.

Similar vein Songs:Ohia album Magnolia Electric Company. Always like that. A bit slow but nice Americana/Southern feel. Self titled album is good too.

Obscure band that I used to listen to in Boston back in the day called Quintaine Americana. They refereed to themselves as swamp rock or something. More energy than the above bands, not too sure about the narrative side of things, I don't have much of their music anymore to listen to. Think you can find them on MySpace

Scott-Heron - I'm New Here album. Pretty interesting, first person narrative, blues-y.

Deer Tick is good Americana stuff but not sure if it fits the bill.

For harder stuff Dropkick Murphy's (first two albums) - Do Or Die and Boys on the Docks. Not the best singing but all about the working class hero from (at that time) a real working class band.
posted by WickedPissah at 1:57 PM on February 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


A lot of people who like The Mountain Goats also like Against Me!, their earlier albums to be more specific. But anything is great. I would go for "Crime! as Forgiven by Against Me!" if you need a good starting point... "Walking is Still Honest" and "Pints of Guinness Make You Strong" are both great songs in the vein of what you described. Unless I'm totally off the mark.
posted by Pleadthefifth at 2:01 PM on February 4, 2011 [1 favorite]




Terry Allen's Juarez is a whole concept album on precisely this theme. Raw as hell (country raw, not rock & roll raw) and seedy above and beyond.
posted by Splificator at 2:43 PM on February 4, 2011


Pretty much anything off of Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels on a Gravel Road or Sweet Old World.

Specifically, Drunken Angel or Lake Charles.

Also, in general, The Bottle rockets, specifically Welfare Music.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:46 PM on February 4, 2011


Pretty much anything by 16 Horsepower.
posted by timsteil at 2:57 PM on February 4, 2011


Smog/Bill Callahan:

Ambition
I Break Horses
Bloodflow

Palace/Will Oldham/Bonnie 'Prince' Billy:

I Was Drunk at the Pulpit
Gulf Shores
I See a Darkness (or try Johnny Cash's version)
posted by hydrophonic at 2:59 PM on February 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst, especially I'm Wide Awake It's Morning and the following albums.

Also McCarthy Trenching.
posted by Lutoslawski at 3:00 PM on February 4, 2011


Gutter Twins/certain other incarnations of Greg Dulli

Agreed about Eric Bachmann's Crooked Fingers era.
posted by ifjuly at 3:16 PM on February 4, 2011


(His cover of "Sunday Morning Coming Down" is a perfect example, by the way.)

Oh, and "The Great Salt Lake" by Juno, Califone ("clouds of angels, liquored pink"), Whiskeytown, Lucero, Uncle Tupelo, and Richmond Fontaine.
posted by ifjuly at 3:23 PM on February 4, 2011


The Springsteen recommendations are spot-on, and I think you should probably start with Nebraska, The River, and Born to Run, but do not rule out Born in the USA. Yes, it's got arena hits and 80s production values, but it's every bit as essential as the earlier stuff.
Downbound Train
I'm On Fire
posted by TrialByMedia at 5:14 PM on February 4, 2011


I just discovered my new favorite band this week which is Shilpa Ray and her Happy Hookers. I was very drawn to the fringeness and shadyness, as if it were mirroring my fringy, shady soul. Might do the same for you!
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 5:31 PM on February 4, 2011


Seconding Tom Waits, Asylum Street Spankers, Silver Jews, and 16 Horsepower.

I recommend you some musicians of the woman sort: Michelle Shocked, Jolie Holland (try Escondida) and The Be Good Tanyas.
posted by Sallyfur at 5:40 PM on February 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thank you for all the suggestions! From what I've listened to so far, they are spot on.
posted by clearly at 6:24 PM on February 4, 2011


If you want more Nick Cave, don't miss his old band, Birthday Party. Mutiny/The Bad Seed is one of the most down & dirty records I've ever heard.
posted by mikeand1 at 6:34 PM on February 4, 2011


Response by poster: Switching genres, but Atmosphere's Americareful does that to an extent in its two verses.

from the Lifter Puller wiki
Slug, of Minneapolis hip-hop group Atmosphere featured on the song "Math Is Money" found on Soft Rock and joined the band on stage to perform the song in 2002 when they reunited in New York City. He is a big fan of the band. On Atmosphere's 2003 album, Seven's Travels, there is a track titled "Lifter Puller". Also, on the track "Reflections", Slug references the line "She came on like she wanted a kiss, and now she's kissing like she already came" from Lifter Puller's song "Roaming the Foam" with the line "You kiss like you already came, and that's a Lifter Puller line for those without any game".
I thought this was strangely appropriate.
posted by clearly at 6:40 PM on February 4, 2011


Seconding Nick Cave and Tom Waits.

If you like the Mountain Goats, check out We Shall All Be Healed, the whole of which is basically about a group of young meth addicts.

Young Thousands
Home Again Garden Grove

The album is much more oblique than anything off of All Hail West Texas, though, so it does require a closer reading.
posted by dephlogisticated at 6:54 PM on February 4, 2011


For more recent, and perhaps more à propos Springsteen:

Sinaloa Cowboys

Also, I nearly forgot:

Tom Waits: Time
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:35 PM on February 4, 2011


Stephen Yerkey. "Complicated enough to make sense in San Francisco but country enough to follow Jimmie Dale Gilmore on stage at Austin open mike nights." Not much of his stuff is available online, but "Speak the Same to Everyone" and "I Just Haven't Laid Down Yet" and... oh, hell, the whole confidence, man album is worth getting. [58 cents for that album? even for used, that is so wrong. *frown*]
posted by Lexica at 9:19 PM on February 4, 2011


Specific Lucero rec: 1372 Overton Park, the entire album. BitterOldPunk put me up to buying it when I was on a similar kick and offered to pay me back if I didn't dig it. He still has his money.

(Also, I rather dig the Gaslight Anthem's The '59 Sound for this, especially "Film Noir" and "Here's Looking At You, Kid," but I realize this rec will cause a whole batch of complaints about them being derivative.)
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 9:29 PM on February 4, 2011


Oh, I thought I might join in the recommendations for "Murder Ballads" specifically. It's one of my favourite Nick Cave albums ("Let Love In" and "Henry's Dream" are the others), and it does sound especially like it might fit your bill.

Glad to see someone else mentioned Firewater! They played the week after I first heard them at a bar a couple of miles from my house, and since I hardly knew the stuff then I decided not to go when the people I was going to go with bailed. I will never, EVER forgive myself for that error in judgement. Tod A. is brilliant.
posted by Because at 10:21 PM on February 4, 2011


Portland's James Low is another good one.
posted by treblemaker at 1:31 AM on February 5, 2011


The Beauty Shop wrote a lot of songs with this feel and this topic. Probably the most appropriate is Nightcrawlers on (this is an iTunes link) Crisis Helpline.
posted by Jorus at 5:39 AM on February 5, 2011


One more suggestion but of a much different genre. A hip hop song song that stood out to me "A B-Boys Alpha" by Cannibal Ox its about growing up in NYC and is pretty brutal (and that's just the first line).
posted by WickedPissah at 12:24 PM on February 5, 2011


Heh, the mention of a band called Firewater (I presume?) reminded me of Silkworm. And in turn, Joel R.L. Phelps.
posted by ifjuly at 12:33 PM on February 5, 2011


And whoamygosh, how could I forget Two Dollar Guitar ("Swamp Girl", "Wide Load", the side project La Lengua Asesina...). And for some reason, and in a slightly different, less country whiskey-soaked way, but still the same socioeconomic and geographic category, the Butchies ("Mandy"), Team Dresch ("D.A. Don't Care", "Growing Up in Springfield"), and "Psychic Hearts" (either the original Thurston Moore version or Cat Power, take your pick..."Colors and the Kids" and "Back of Your Head" sort of come to mind too, for a certain Midwestern lost SE class trapped-kid restlessness thing that isn't exactly what you speak of but is derived in part, methinks...).
posted by ifjuly at 12:55 PM on February 5, 2011


Ohohoh, and Emmylou Harris' "Red Dirt Girl" which is precisely about the futility and anonymity of this situation.
posted by ifjuly at 12:58 PM on February 5, 2011


Sandie Shaw's "Jeane" and Ron Sexsmith's "Strawberry Blonde" too. Mary Lou Lord too, though how much of that is irritating affectation, who knows...
posted by ifjuly at 1:03 PM on February 5, 2011


I recommend "Angeline" and possibly "We Can't Make it Here Anymore" both by James McMurtry.

You might also like some of Creech Holler's stuff, particularly "Lester Ballard" which is inspired by the novel "Child of God" by Cormac McCarthy and definitely describes a shady character.
posted by Horatius at 12:28 AM on February 6, 2011


Rickie Lee Jones' first two albums (Rickie Lee Jones and Pirates) have some nice dark corners in them.
posted by Paris Elk at 11:53 AM on February 6, 2011


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