Deep dark music please!

December 5, 2012 5:46 PM

I want deep, soulful music. Please help me find more songs like my examples!

I recently heard "Bottom of the River" by Delta Rae for the first time and have become mildly obsessed with it. While looking for more songs like it I found "John the Revelator".

I love the heavy beat, gospel feel, and deep voices. The repetitious choruses are also pretty cool. I would love to have more songs along these lines!

posted by brilliantine to media & arts (15 answers total)

Check out Matthew E. White
posted by OmieWise at 5:48 PM on December 5, 2012

You will probably also like Solomon Burke (None Of Us Are Free). If you don't already listen to Nina Simone, a lot of her music may fit your needs, though some of it is less soul and more jazz (Feelin' Good, I Put A Spell On You). You may also like Ruthie Foster (Death Came A-Knockin). Big Mama Thornton is also great - try Summertime or Wade in the Water.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:02 PM on December 5, 2012 [3 favorites]

GlassI'm going to nominate Bat for Lashes Glass. It has the heavy beat and (mostly) deep voice. It could be a stretch, though...
posted by foxhat10 at 6:07 PM on December 5, 2012

The royal family of swamp gospel, for my money, is the Staple Singers. Uncloudy Day is probably the best compilation of their early work, when Mavis' voice was at its most powerful. I like the underproduced, low-fi sound (which is the way it was done back then, not a "historical technique" like it would be today).

John The Revelator was written and recorded by Blind Willie Johnson - I think you'd love his Dark Was The Night, too.
posted by Currer Belfry at 6:08 PM on December 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

You may have heard a bit of Grace Potter's Nothing But The Water in ads for some current tv show. Forget the show, keep the song.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:12 PM on December 5, 2012

Down in the River to Pray was the first song that came to mind when I listened to your first link...
posted by 1367 at 6:31 PM on December 5, 2012

Tony Joe White's song Robbin' My Honeycomb hits a lot of those notes for me.

I like Joan Osborne's version of Nobody's Fault But Mine, although it's a little up-tempo.

I wonder if the Audreys might work for you:
Oh Honey
Banjo and Violin

And a little farther afield, you might like some of Chuck Prophet's stuff:
Pin a Rose on Me
You Did
What Makes the Monkey Dance
posted by Lexica at 7:23 PM on December 5, 2012

What that version of John the Revelator strongly reminds me of is 16 Horsepower's cover of Sinnerman.
posted by threeants at 8:06 PM on December 5, 2012

Deeper Well, Emmylou Harris w/ Daniel Lanois
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:59 PM on December 5, 2012

There was a question a few months back looking for music recommendations based on the same Delta Rae song.

Check it out here
posted by TheOtherGuy at 11:52 PM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

Robbie Robertson's first solo album.
posted by pracowity at 3:43 AM on December 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Link Wray - Guitar Preacher: The Polydor Years.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:14 AM on December 6, 2012

John the Revelator a traditional song and Son House recorded it too. Check out Death Letter Blues and if you like it there's a reissue of his songs as one album, called Original Delta Blues.

This great Laura Nyro/Labelle track fits the gospel feel (and is amazing), if not the heavy beat. It reminds me of the Delta Rae track you posted, anyway: I Met Him On A Sunday

Seconding Solomon Burke.

There's also a compilation series called Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures, 4 issues so far. Every song on it a winner. I think it might be right up your street.
posted by stevedawg at 9:20 AM on December 6, 2012

Check out the Blind Boys of Alabama.
posted by skypieces at 10:22 PM on December 6, 2012

I think some of the songs that Johnny Cash recorded near the end of his life with Rick Rubin might work. His voice is worn out, but that's what makes these songs so haunting and bleak and beautiful.

Ain't No Grave
The Man Comes Around
God's Gonna Cut You Down
posted by marsha56 at 12:27 AM on December 7, 2012 [1 favorite]