Ink 19

Country Goth? Why the hell not? The Blacks – Danny and Gina Black along with James Emmenger and Nora O’Connor – take up where the Violent Femmes’ “Country Death Song” stopped. Add some Cramps-vintage thrash and a drunken sailor blowing taps on a faraway trumpet and you get the sound of Dolly Horrorshow, the debut Bloodshot release of the Blacks, formally the Black Family. I mean, you gotta love songs like “Tortured Holiday,” where a sprightly picked banjo leads a dark sing-along about a really departed lover. Produced by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel (Bottlerockets, Blue Mountain) the record sounds like a country dirge version of Cabaret. When Gina Black starts draggin’ the bow across her standup bass, hairs stand up on your neck. The bands take on Bill Monroe’s “I’ll Meet You in Church Sunday Morning” isn’t going to garner them an invite to the Grand Old Opry, but it might get `em a shot with Marilyn Manson. Put this record on at 3 o’clock in the morning and scare the crap out of yourself. Bloodshot Records, 912 W. Addison St., Chicago, IL 60613

James Mann