LISTENING IN: The Dead South, a Saskatchewan sensation

Every once in a while one discovers a band/video that literally stops you in your tracks and declare, “What the fudge, how did I not know about this?” Such is the case with The Dead South, a simply irrepressible folk-bluegrass outfit from the unlikely shores of Saskatchewan (Regina to be precise) that has been kicking around now (unbeknownst to most I suspect) for a full decade.

The two-time Juno award winner in the roots category describes itself as “a rock band without a drummer, a bluegrass band without a fiddler… (that) speeds like a train past polite definitions of acoustic music into the grittier, rowdier spaces of the bluegrass world.”

The four-piece string band is built on a taut configuration of cello, mandolin, banjo, and guitar, with songs uniquely ranging from a “dark and foreboding” treatment of “You Are My Sunshine” to The Doors’ “People Are Strange,” plus their own compositions, which have prompted comparisons to Mumford and Sons.

Beyond the music, the band produces truly remarkable videos, like the one we’re including here for “In Hell We’ll Be In Good Company.”

Not sure how they do it, but consider our socks knocked off.