Song of the Week – Bottom of the River – Delta Rae

Written by Jim S.

There is a genre of fiction called Southern Gothic. Once used as a pejorative, per Wikipedia, it “employs the use of macabre, ironic events to examine the values of the American South. … It uses the Gothic tools not solely for the sake of suspense, but to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South – Gothic elements often taking place in a  magic realist context rather than a strictly fantastical one.”

Delta Rae is a band formed in Durham, North Carolina. Wikipedia lists their genres as blues-rock, country rock, folk-rock, and roots rock. I wasn’t all that familiar with them so a little research turns up that three of the members are siblings. They don’t appear to have been originally from the South but their music – at least this song – seems to be heavily influenced by the Southern Gothic genre.

This song is actually a couple of years old but it was new to me. It reminded me in some way of the song “S.O.B” that I posted about a while back. Not in terms of sound necessarily but in terms of that Southern gospel feel.

I was puzzled by what the video was about until I realized she was a witch being brought to trial. Well, the song isn’t about that per se but it inspired that thought in the group:

“Brittany, our sister, was just able really to carry the character in such a way that — I couldn’t even necessarily have envisioned that. We loved the idea of her starting off the role as a victim, and by the end of it having transformed into the leader of this mob.

The audience starts off thinking that she’s being falsely accused as a witch, and by the end of it, she’s more powerful than anyone would have imagined. I thought the story arc of it was really exciting, so we just ran with it. You feel scared for her then you feel scared of her.”

 

11 thoughts on “Song of the Week – Bottom of the River – Delta Rae”

        1. You’re coming up to a heavy post month, July. Then after that, I cut back to about half that many per month. Not because I wanted to but because the blogosphere can’t keep up. 🙂 So you’ll make quicker progress from August on.

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        2. I’m digging it big time. I even did 4 other than my usual 3 today. I seen Leo and couldn’t resist. I might cry when I come to the end but you’ll still be cooking up new ones so I might be OK.

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        3. I tell you I could post twice a day. When I started I figured I’d run out of shit by now. Not even close. I figured I’d have to deep dive my record/CD collection to find stuff to write about. Haven’t had to do it yet. Something good always seems to crop up or sadly, one of the old rockers dies. And then we gotta write about that!

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        4. I hear you man. I’ve been doing the CB thing in a half assed chronological order, as I heard the record/film back in the day. I’m a little less that way with the single/scene thing but yeah I won’t get to half the great music I have. Good chatting to you! We share a love of music and keep it light for the most part.

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        6. CB, I wanted to ask you if, as you are going through the posts, you see any broken links, please advise. when you comment I try to stay ahead of the game but it’s tough to find the older ones. Sometimes they pull a video from YouTube because some guy is a frequent offender. But then you find the same song somewhere else.

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  2. Yeah, if you see a link with no picture, typically that means the link is broken. It was there when i posted, then gone. I’ve been able to go back and clean up a lot. But definitely keep me posted. I found one today. I’ll probably sweep back to the beginning later in the year. But eventually it will become impossible. Thanks.

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