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The Dead South: Diamond Ring

The maverick Regina hit bluegrass outfit The Dead South has announced the Oct. release of a third full-length album, Sugar & Joy. This lead single is a frisky tune driven by banjo, mandolin, and cello, and bolstered with full-blooded vocal harmonies.

The Dead South: Diamond Ring

By Kerry Doole

The Dead South - Diamond Ring (Six Shooter): Maverick Regina bluegrass outfit The Dead South took the roots music world by storm a couple of years ago with In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company, a tune from its debut album, Good Company.


The video for the track went viral, notching 133M YouTube views, an unheard-of figure within this genre. A second album confirmed the group's talent, and extensive international touring followed.

The band has now announced that a third full-length, Sugar & Joy, will come out on Oct. 11, via Six Shooter Records.

This lead single is a frisky tune driven by banjo, mandolin, and cello, and bolstered with full-blooded vocal harmonies. Three minutes in, the song makes a dramatic but effective u-turn, showing that the group is unconstrained by bluegrass convention.

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The man behind the earlier smash hit video, Zach Wilson of Two Brothers Films, returns to the camera here, coming up with a striking gambling-themed clip that is quickly showing signs of attracting another huge audience.

Sugar & Joy is the group's first album written and recorded outside Regina. It was produced by FAME Studio-trained Jimmy Nutt, a longtime member of the Muscle Shoals music scene whose recent credits include a Grammy for his work on The Steeldrivers. “They have an obvious dedication to what they are doing,” says Nutt in a label press release. “They really encourage each other, which you don’t see a lot.”

The Dead South is currently touring in the UK, including a show at the famed Glastonbury fest this week. A July 6 date at Calgary's Big Rock Brewery is followed by a ten-city fall Canadian tour, Canada Served Cold, Oct. 19-Nov. 4. Dates here.

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