Southern Gothic The Weeping Willows
‘Southern Gothic’ by The Weeping Willows
A Collection of Dark Tales Out Now
By Rob Dickens
Golden Guitar winners The Weeping Willows are drawn to the darker side – murder ballads, tales of desperation and unhappy endings – immersing themselves in the earthy traditions of the American South. With their new EP Southern Gothic they achieve a new level of maturity, pushing their vocals and creating perfectly-layered and sympathetic arrangements.
The EP contains a lively mix – the grieving instrumental title track, the beautiful sadness of “Hangman (The Gallows Tree)” (featuring Nick Charles) the animated take on ‘Ma’ Rainey’s “C.C. Rider” and Lefty Frizell‘s touchingly forlorn “Long Black Veil” (Laura’s falsetto a feature). The collection finishes on a high with Walt Aldridge’s plaintive “Ain’t No Ash Will Burn” and the original and portentous “Black Crow”, the latter recorded with celebrated producer Ryan Freeland (Bonnie Raitt) at Stampede Origin Studio, Los Angeles.
The bulk of Southern Gothic was tracked, engineered and mixed by the highly-regarded Roger Bergodaz (Raised By Eagles, Jeb Cardwell), and features David Piltch (Willie Nelson, Don Henley) on upright bass, Luke Moller (Hayes Carll, Kasey Chambers) on fiddle and mandolin and James Church (Montgomery Church) on Dobro.
Dark stories they may be, but Southern Gothic provides plenty of colour and panache, adding undoubtedly to the duo’s catalogue.
The Weeping Willows took out the 2021 Golden Guitar for Instrumental of the Year. They’ve netted eight CMAA Golden Guitar nominations and have supported Americana greats from Iris Dement (USA) to Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real (USA). The duo has toured the USA multiple times, growing a significant fan base there and has appeared at many key festivals in Australia.
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Southern Gothic The Weeping Willows
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