Possibly the most famous voice in bluegrass music of the 21st century, Dan Tyminski has again shown his face (and voice) to the world outside bluegrass on his new project Southern Gothic. This time, not as a personification of southern values as he was as the voice of George Clooney’s vocal parts in O Brother Where Art Thou?, but as the voice for warning against southern hypocrisy traditionalism. Whether its production choices or lyrical subject matter, Southern Gothic is one of the most talked about projects to come out of bluegrass in quite some time.
I have heard a lot of differing opinions on the production, but none have considered bluegrass. This is obvious. If it’s not bluegrass, it’s natural to try to pigeon hole it into different genres. Country? Pop Country? Pop? EDM? They all tell a very small portion of the story of the production that uses modern techniques to create the sound scape Tyminski desired. From the first drum pops of the bass drum, the listener knows this isn’t what he was expecting from a Tyminski album. The looming string loops to go along with the sputtering drum line give it an ominous empty sound. Negative critiques have been made that this production is lazy, when it’s simply following the golden rule of producing: don’t overpower the star. The bright string contrast in the chorus is also brilliant in its use, especially in the last choruses when you can hear Tyminski’s voice straining in the background. “Breathing Fire” uses mandolin and banjo loops and more heavy handed drums, but the premise is the same. The use of dynamics and loops creates a sound scape that Tyminski can be at the forefront of, or if he chooses to be one of the many loops surrounding his vocals. This technique is used again in the call and response portions of the chorus.
The stark contrast comes in the fourth track “Temporary Love” which has taken the common pop technique of faded call and response vocals, but this time for an entirely different purpose. The melody of the intro background vocals is a major ear bug, but also sets up a nice rhythmic groove Tyminski can influence with his lyrical phrasing. The subtle guitar 7ths and 3rds are also a very subtle touch that makes the groove unescapable. This strategy is not always used for musically satisfactory ends. “Good for Your Soul” jumps way too far into the bubblegum pop pool by using the now over done 5-3 background vocal melody. He also uses whistles, which are now finally being seen as the ear sore that they should have been considered since 2010.
Besides the instruments, there was minimal mention of bluegrass in the last two paragraphs. This was Tyminski’s intention. Production wise, the bluegrass nature of this album ends with the string loops and Tyminski’s high lonesome voice. But isn’t that enough to at least allude to his roots. Tymisnki’s singing is as high and lonesome as ever, and can we actually imagine these songs with strictly bluegrass instrumentation? Tyminski attempted this live on Colbert with “Southern Gothic”, but he still needed drum tracks and other tools to not make the songs feel completely out of place. Has there ever been a good song with breathy background vocal call and response that was kicked off by a Ron Block banjo break? No, because it’s impossible. The lyrical phrasing and the amount of background vocals made constricting this album to strictly bluegrass instruments extremely ill-advised and nearly impossible.
Now why make an album that is so strikingly different from your others? Maybe because the songs are incredibly well written. If the digital timbres weren’t enough for strict bluegrass traditionalists to disregard the album, the lyrical subject matter should take care of it. Tyminski makes no efforts to hide his lyrical theme of southern hypocrisy. “Every House has got a bible and loaded gun” is offset in the chorus by “We got a church on every corner so why does heaven seem so far away?”. The former answers the latter to Tyminski and to a majority of the listeners of the song. He also blames unabated drug use and unfaithful relationships for the failures of specifically southern inhabitants. Now, I don’t know how many Randy Newman fans we have reading this article. But doesn’t that sound a lot like the album Rednecks? It’s because it totally is. If “Southern Gothic” is Tyminski’s “Rednecks” then “Gone” is definitely his version of “Marie”: a down on his luck drug user confessing his love to somebody who seems to not feel the same way anymore. Tyminski, like Newman before him (I know; high praise) is able to make the personal political on this project, which will go down as one of the most heavily debated, but also future- thinking projects of bluegrass since the Osborne Brothers.
