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.

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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