I tend to like classic country - Hank, Loretta, Patsy, Johnny - mostly because of the stories their songs told, and the fact that they usually focused on feelings of sadness, loneliness, love gone bad, and shame at having done bad deeds, or if not shame, at least a desire to confess bad deeds. Sometimes the stories were simpler, told straightforwardly ("I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die"), or more pop-oriented format, like Patsy's countrypolitan leanings. Sometimes they were more complex, and sometimes focused on ghostly legends of the past ("Ghost Riders In the Sky").
These days, I tend to prefer 'Americana,' or what some people might call 'alternative country,' or 'gothic country.' I like music that tends to focus on darker feelings - obsessions, hopelessness, sadness, loneliness, anger, murderous intent. And most goth country lyrics tend to encompass all these things. It's good music to listen to when you're feeling bad, or just one of those people who likes to hear a sad tale about bad deeds gone wrong, an obsession unmet, a love unrequited. I don't hear any of those things in popular country music. The only popular country song that's come close in recent years is Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now," a simple but affecting song about loneliness. The rest of the pop country pantheon tends to bore me to tears. ...Well, all except Dolly Parton. I'd wade through a river of rhinestones, big hair, fake nails and eyelashes just to hear her sing "Jolene."
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Even in my darkest recollection, there was someone singing my life back to me. ~Neko Case
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