Daughn Gibson

Daughn Gibson crafts songs as a vocalist and writer whose sound keeps shifting by weaving vintage hard country and classic Americana into loops, samples, expansive synth layers, intricate drum patterns, and live instruments. Born Josh Martin in 1981, he absorbed punk rock alongside Metallica and Guns N' Roses well before his teenage years. He first picked up drums as a preteen, performing locally with Nokturnal Acid and Natal Cream, then joined childhood friends Joel Winter and Randy Huth to launch the knotty hard rock band Pearls & Brass. A string of unrelated jobs—driving trucks, repairing broadcast towers, working warehouses, engineering sound at bars, and clerking at an adult bookstore—later colored his approach once he began recording alone. Those experiences fed directly into his debut solo album, All Hell, issued on White Denim; there he paired the country and Americana he had absorbed from radio while hauling freight with the electronic textures of European artists such as Demdike Stare and Burial. Sub Pop signed him near the end of 2012, and his first release for the label, Me Moan, arrived in July 2013 with guitar work from John Baizley of Baroness and Jim Elkington of Brokeback. Gibson eased away from country accents on his third album, Carnation, which surfaced in June 2015 and instead highlighted cool electronic pop touches throughout its arrangements.