Creepy and country music are words that don’t normally go together. Well, at least where I’m from. But close attention to what’s happening in pop culture these days reveals a veritable renaissance of what is called “dark folk” or “dark Americana.” Television shows like True Detective and last year’s certified hit film Sinners (2025) have both made use of roots music with a dark bent. But has this always been the case? Let’s take a look at country music’s dark side.
Murder Ballads
Country and bluegrass music are what most people would associate with things like Nashville’s Lower Broadway, the Grand Ole Opry, and jubilees. However, those of us in the know are well aware of the genre’s roots. A long history of folk music and early country music contained some of the darkest lyrics that would make modern death metal bands run away with their tails between their legs. For example, the classic murder ballad “Knoxville Girl,” an Appalachian reworking of a traditional Irish song. The lyrics tell of a man, named in the song by the titular girl as “Willy”, who brutally murders the woman he supposedly loves.
“We went to take an evening walk about a mile from town
I picked a stick up off the ground and knocked that fair girl down
She fell down on her bended knees, for mercy she did cry
’Oh, Willy dear, don’t kill me here, I’m unprepared to die
She never spoke another word, I only beat her more
Until the ground around me within her blood did flow”
Is “slasher country” a thing? If not, it should be. (Dibs on coining that term.) Songs like “Knoxville Girl” inspired a whole host of other reimaginings and influenced many future songs regarding the murder of someone, whether by jealous lovers, bigots, bandits, or thieves. The earliest known recording is by Riley Puckett and Gid Tanner in 1924, however, artists like Ralph Stanley, the Louvin Brothers, and others cut the song, with the Louvin’s reaching the Top Twenty of the US Country charts in 1956.
It’s no stretch to say that early country music was full of these dark tales, oftentimes paired with upbeat music. That contrast provides an apt juxtaposition between musical accessibility and lyrical melancholy that Morrisey would die for. That’s very attractive to an entire group of artists channeling those ideas and updating them for today.
Modern Tales for Dark Times
As I stated earlier, television shows like True Detective, Seasons One and Two, especially, have made good use of the genre. Season One featured the song “Far From Any Road” by The Handsome Family over its opening sequence. A husband and wife duo that is often labeled “gothic country,” the song worms its way into your head with its descriptive lyrics that wouldn’t be out of touch in a Brontë novel if the sisters grew up in the Wild West.
“From the dusty mesa her looming shadow grows
Hidden in the branches of the poison creosote
She twines her spines up slowly towards the boiling sun
And when I touched her skin my fingers ran with blood”
The deep timbre of singer Brett Sparks provides a nice contrast to wife/co-vocalist Rennie Sparks’ sultry voice. From the opening percussive rattle to the almost mariachi-like guitar strums, the song catches your ears and takes you into the desert where something or someone is coming for you.
Singer/songwriters have been a prominent source of music of substance in all genres, but many don’t provide the depth of detail like Danny Kiranos, known by his stage name Amigo the Devil. Kiranos operates in a genre many refer to as “murder folk.” Serial killers, rampant drug use, and other macabre themes abound in his writing. Take “I’m Going to Heaven” from the 2024 record Yours Until The War Is Over.
An almost vaudevillian jaunt, the song tells of a man who gets loaded on ketamine, only to find that his wife has been murdered by a man of the cloth. The narrator decides to take his revenge by killing himself to go to Hell, get some help from his “buddy Luci,” and gets to go to Heaven to exact said revenge. When it’s all said and done, our unnamed narrator awakes to find he has been in a drug-induced nightmare and his wife laughing at his misfortune. However, not all of his songs have a happy ending. For further exploration, see “Cocaine and Abel” and “Once Upon a Time in a Texaco, Pt. 1.”
Even heavy hitters like Jason Isbell, writer of viral hit “Cover Me Up,” has his own dark songs. “Live Oak” tells the story of a man who joins up with the wrong crowd of murderers and thieves who one day finds a woman who makes him stop his sinful ways. When his old friends show up in town, rumors start to spread of his old life. He kills his newfound love in order to keep the story hidden. It sounds like the premise of a well-written drama.
Alternative roots singer/songwriter Lera Lynn became a prominent recurring role as a club singer in Season Two of the aforementioned True Detective. The show featured multiple songs of hers both in promotional spots and in the series itself. Her deft writing and mysterious vibe provided a suitable backdrop to the show’s somber atmosphere that, while the season decidedly was not, was seriously spooky. The roto-vibe filter of “The Only Thing Worth Fighting For” is what made me watch the second season because it was so dark and so different.
So why does all of this dark music make for worthy material?
Why It’s Worth Your Time
Here at Malevolent Dark, we’re passionate about horror and all of its various aspects. We know that horror is a mirror that we use to look inside of the deepest parts of ourselves to find something we can’t find anywhere else. Horror is about the humanity that most people don’t want to see. We’re not afraid of this. We would rather confront these parts to better understand ourselves instead of hiding them away.
Music has long been a way for people to connect and understand one another. It is sonic fiction that, in the hands of masterful storytellers like Amigo the Devil, Jason Isbell, Lera Lynn, and others, is an exposition of soulful vulnerability deeper than what you find on the surface of the mainstream. When you dig a little deeper into the ground, you sometimes get rewarded with treasure. Music is no different.
The next time you hear something that catches your ear in a film or tv show, do some digging. Plenty of artists are out there waiting and there’s a vibe for everything. That’s why these songs end up in major motion pictures and series to begin with. Don’t let the words “country music” or “folk” scare you. It’s not all dueling banjos in Deliverance. Although, the kid could pick.