Dee Calhoun Premieres “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” Video; Album Out June 23
Solo singer-songwriter Dee Calhoun, who also fronts Spiral Grave and counts Maryland doom legends Iron Man among a slew of others in his pedigree, will release his fourth album, Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia, through Argonauta Records on June 23. The record arrives concurrent to a short-story/novella collection — also available as an audiobook read by the author — that’s Calhoun‘s fifth published work, and as he also produced and engineered the album, performed as multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, it’s a complete narrative work overseen by a distinct vision of what Calhoun wants the tale to be and how he might want it told.
In continued allegiance with bassist “Iron Louis” Strachan and percussionist/sometimes vocalist/progeny Rob Calhoun, the singer who for years has had “Screaming Mad” appear before his name in Spiral Grave, Iron Man — for whom he also flirted with recording on 2012’s Att hålla dig över EP — and other outfits has it seems grown more methodical than the title would imply. “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia,” the title-track of the record the video for which you can see premiering below, follows the storyline of the devil arriving in a small rural town at some point in the overall-wearing past and sets about making deals to trick people out of their souls and other devilish fun-pretend whatnot. You know, Satan stuff. The uzh, or however you spell it.
Animated by Chaos Cartoons, who also recently realized High Noon Kahuna‘s video for “Danger Noodle” (premiered here) — their Maryland bona fides well in check — the clip calls to mind some of the spooky brooding and grim landscapes that fellow ’90s products of a nerdy persuasion might liken to Vampire Hunter D, but the setting is part of the story here. 
As Mormonism asks what might’ve been had Jesus come to America — try the fish, but not too much of it or you’ll get poisoned — the clip for “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” resonates blues-of-eld vibes throughout its acoustimetal procession, Calhoun‘s singularly powerful vocals at the forefront as if by their very nature they could ever be anywhere else.
As regards solo work, this has been Calhoun‘s niche all along, but his fourth LP in seven years and the follow-up to 2020’s Godless (review here) sees Calhoun step into the storyteller role with increased surety and an instrumental confidence that’s grown bolder since 2016’s Rotgut (review here) and 2018’s Go to the Devil (review here), and the detailing in the background of “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” brings that into clear relief. It’s there in the richness of the acoustic strum, underscored and bolstered by the bassline with hand-drums backing as Calhoun goes into fire-and-brimstone mode before the song’s halfway point, Dee Calhoun coming to the precipice of being a band rather than a project, holding firm to unplugged dark-country and Baptist balladeering with the righteousness of the unreligious.
Calhoun notes below the banjo, shovel guitar and cigar box guitar used to flesh out the arrangement for “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia.” That he’d be hearing those kinds of sonic details in writing and recording a song — that drive to put something there just because it feels right and the song wants it — speaks to the progression of his craftsmanship as a solo artist. A narrative concept LP based on a short story collection and accompanied by that and the audiobook, everything all tied together in that way, isn’t the kind of thing a frontman does their first time out. Calhoun has been building toward this all the while, and Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia is his most three-dimensional, textured work yet.
Video premiere below, followed by more from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Dee Calhoun, “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” video premiere
Dee Calhoun on “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia”:
“Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” is a story of the dark one riding the rails to collect souls from the small corners of the world. It illustrates how the line between what’s good and what’s evil can be blurred once corruption has taken hold. The instrumentation of the song features a lot of elements to really give the song a dark, backwoods kind of feel; shovel guitar, cigar box guitars, and even a banjo make an appearance.
The animation was done by Troy Darr with Chaos Cartoons, and I am thrilled with the job he did. It’s my first time seeing one of my stories in visual form, and it was great to watch it all come together in that form.
Coming on June 23rd, the album will coincide with the release of Dee’s fifth book, “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia (four devilish novelettes).” CD1 of the two-disc set will feature ten songs, while CD2 will feature the audiobook of the title novelette, read by the author.
Written during COVID lockdowns, the songs on OSCtA include a number of non-traditional stringed instruments such as cigar box guitars, shovel guitars, and diddley bows. Again joining Dee are bassist Louis Strachan and percussionist Rob Calhoun (who sings lead vocals on two tracks).
“Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia” will be released by Argonauta Records on CD and DIGITAL, and “Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia (four devilish novelettes)” will be available from Kindle Direct Publishing, each on June 23rd.
TRACKLIST:
1. The Day the Rats Came to Town
2. Verachte Diese Hure
3. A Wish in the Darkness
4. New Modern World
5. Conjured
6. Pulse
7. Self-Inflicted
8. Stand With Me
9. All I Need is One
10. Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia
Argonauta Records on Instagram
Tags: Argonauta Records, Dee Calhoun, Dee Calhoun Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia, Frederick, Maryland, Maryland doom, Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia
