Blackgrass Gospel specializes in a strain of bluegrass you may be unfamiliar with. It’s called outlaw bluegrass, and we could easily do an egg-headed historical analysis of the styles that form this interesting hybrid of American musical genres. We could philosophize on the cultural shifts that set these music varieties in motion for a hellbound collision with each other, but really, where’s the fun in that? Better to simply let the band’s bassist Chris Barnes give you a definitive and kickass definition.
“Outlaw bluegrass is exactly what it implies: a bunch of vagrants, vagabonds, punks, metalheads and outlaws playing the shit you heard on Mawmaw and Papaw’s FM radio on Sundays,” he says. “We all grew up in somewhat religious households. I had just about every extreme Southern religion crammed down my throat until I was a teenager and was able to make my own decisions about what I believe. That’s kinda where Blackgrass’s message comes from. We ain’t saying we worship the devil, or telling you to do it. We’re simply stating that the world, the church and the people that run it are fucked up. If you’re a sinner, you’re gonna answer for it. Plain and simple.”
“I had been wanting to start an evil-sounding country band for years and had written many songs on guitar,” he says. “At the time I was playing guitar in a punk band call Spastic Fit, but the drummer dropped out and I was trying to start a different project. I invited Earl Wang over to tryout as a singer, but it didn’t quite fit for what I was going for. But his voice was perfect for all these creepy country songs I had wrote and that was the very beginning of Blackgrass Gospel.”
