Those Poor Bastards is a dark country band out of Wisconsin that consists of Lonesome Wyatt (guitar, vocals) and The Minister (banjo, bass).
“Those Poor Bastards own a unique sound that only touches the edges of traditional roots music, a sound that repeatedly smashes the molds that have shaped country and blues for nearly a hundred years. It’s a sound that was decidedly born too late, for it seems to long for a time its creators never knew, a simpler, more primitive time. Rather than commit itself entirely to the time in which we presently live, their sound finds itself treading through the stinking gutter of a Depression era alleyway, only to sit amongst other lost souls, all of them sitting around a mighty fire burning in the guts of a metal waste container. They proceed to pick up guitars, banjos, fiddles, buckets for percussion, and various other instruments, some homemade, some not, and play song after song as if their very lives depended upon it. And throughout the night it evolves into a sound as dark as a winter night, as sharp as a rattler’s fang, as vicious as a meth lab guard dog, as bizarre as a pack of sideshow carnies, and as full of fire and brimstone as an evangelical preacher of the South’s sweaty Bible Belt.”
— No Depression
When No Depression gets it right, they get it right. Those Poor Bastards’ lead vocalist Lonesome Wyatt also fronts Lonesome Wyatt and the Holy Spooks, and has done two albums of duets with Rachel Brooks (Bitter Harvest [2009] and Bad Omen [2015]). Lonesome is also the author of the horror pulp novels The Terrible Tale of Edgar Switchblade and The Dreadful Death of Edgar Switchblade.
“Those Poor Bastards are the best Gothic Country I have heard yet to this day. The depressing gloomy vocals coming out of this drifter named Lonesome Wyatt has hints of Marilyn Manson to Nick Cave, Throwrag and maybe even a hint of a demented Adam Ant with a shot of a Pilled Up Johnny Cash… And the Minister is backing up Lonesome Wyatt with a style that is a cross between erie strung out folk music with a creepy blend of The Nightmare Before Christmas!!!!!!!!!”
— Hank III
‘Nuff said! Check out Those Poor Bastards dark, dark music HERE.
