Tangy banjo and back chop beats drive “Blue Trash,” the third song from The Dead South’s forthcoming Sugar & Joy. Out today, “Blue Trash” is a playful acknowledgement that along their road from unsigned Canadian string set to Gold Certified, JUNO Award winning, Billboard charting band, some have taken issue with the prairie pickers’ progressive style. “Blue Trash,” built on a perfectly bluegrassy banjo lick, is about the importance of expressing their own musical hearts, on their own terms.
For more from Sugar & Joy, you can get weird and get friendly with “Alabama People,” a headbanging bluegrass tune released last month. Written and recorded on the spot, the song’s spontaneous origin shows a band fully in the moment, inspired by the experience and channeling the energy of place (The Nutthouse) and people (producer Jimmy Nutt, assistant engineer Cody Simmons, visits from members of The Swampers, late nights with the locals at Champy’s Shoals). Beyond its two minutes of stomping swagger, “Alabama People” also feels like a snapshot, Eggleston-style, a vivid, unsettling, evocative vignette.
As the release date for Sugar & Joy nears (October 11, 2019), The Dead South’s fall schedule includes stops in NYC, Raleigh and Nashville in September for an in-store at Rough Trade (9/24), multiple showcases at this year’s World of Bluegrass. Furthering this, the band will become the first bluegrass band to ever headline Brixton Academy in London when their tour commences in Europe next year.
The Dead South, a gold rush vibing four-piece acoustic bluegrass set from Saskatchewan, infuse the genre's traditional trappings with an air of frontier recklessness, whiskey breakfasts and grizzled tin-pan showmanship. The sound, built on a taut configuration of cello, mandolin, banjo and guitar, speeds like a train past polite definitions of bluegrass into the grittier, rowdier spaces of the traditional world. The gold-certified, JUNO Award winning band's original and current lineup includes the gnarled baritone of Nate Hilts, Scott Pringle on mandolin, whistling cellist Danny Kenyon and virtuosic banjo player Colton Crawford. The four-piece, string-driven approach puts the interplay of unique and versatile voices front and centre, with Hilts, Pringle and Kenyon all sharing lead vocal duties.
SA SERVED COLD TOUR
TEMPE, AZ: Marquee Theatre, Nov 24*
LAS VEGAS, NV: House of Blues, Nov 25*
SAN DIEGO, CA: House of Blues, Nov 26*
LOS ANGELES, CA: The Belasco Theatre, Nov 27*
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA: The Fremont Theatre, Nov 29*
RENO, NV: Virginia Street Brewhouse, Nov 30*
SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The Fillmore, Dec 1*
SACRAMENTO, CA: Ace of Spaces, Dec 2*
PORTLAND, OR: Roseland Theatre, Dec 4+
SEATTLE, WA: Showbox SoDo, Dec 5+
SPOKANE, WA: Knitting Factory, Dec 6+
GARDEN CITY, ID: Revolution Concert House, Dec 7+
SALT LAKE CITY, UT: The Depot, Dec 9#
GRAND JUNCTION, CO: The Mesa Theatre & Club, Dec 10#
DENVER, CO: Mission Ballroom, Dec 12#
LINCOLN, NE: The Royal Grove, Dec 13#
KANSAS CITY, MO: The Truman, Dec 14#
CLEVELAND, OH: House of Blues, Jan 5#
BUFFALO, NY: Asbury Hall at Babeville, Jan 6#
BOSTON, MA: House of Blues, Jan 7#
BROOKLYN, NY: Warsaw, Jan 9#
PHILADELPHIA, PA: Theatre Of The Living Arts, Jan 10#
SILVER SPRING, MD: The Fillmore Silver Spring, Jan 11#
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA: Elevation 27, Jan 12#
CINCINNATI, OH: Bogarts, Jan 14#
LOUISVILLE, KY: Mercury Ballroom, Jan 15#
ASHEVILLE, NC: Orange Peel, Jan 16~
RALEIGH, NC: The Ritz, Jan 17~
CHARLOTTE, NC: The Underground, Fillmore Charlotte, Jan 18~
CHARLESTON, SC: Music Farm, Jan 20~
ORLANDO, FL: House of Blues, Jan 21~
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL: Revolution Live, Jan 23~
TAMPA, FL: The Orpheum, Jan 24~
ATLANTA, GA: Buckhead Theatre, Jan 25~
w/ Scott H. Biram*
w/ Elliott BROOD+
w/ The Hooten Hollers~
w/ Legendary Shack Shakers#
IRELAND AND UK SERVED COLD TOUR
DUBLIN, IE: Vicar Street, Feb 18
BELFAST, UK: Ulster Hall, Feb 19
GLASGOW, UK: O2 Academy, Feb 21
NEWCASTLE, UK: O2 Academy, Feb 22
MANCHESTER, UK: Academy, Feb 23
BIRMINGHAM, UK: O2 Academy, Feb 25
PORTSMOUTH, UK: Guildhall, Feb 26
LONDON, UK: Brixton Academy, Feb 27
NOTTINGHAM, UK: Rock City, Feb 28
EXETER, UK: Great Hall, Feb 29
