The Dead South

Emerging from Regina, Saskatchewan, the Dead South merge a raw punk sensibility with longstanding bluegrass and old-time string band traditions. Their 2014 debut gained early traction across Europe, setting the stage for a North American breakthrough via the Billboard-charting second album Illusion & Doubt. The 2019 follow-up Sugar & Joy climbed even higher, reaching the summit of the Bluegrass chart and prompting the release of their first live album, Served Live, in 2021. After completing a covers project, the band delivered their fourth studio album, Chains & Stakes, in 2024, which they tracked in Mexico City.

The quartet came together in 2012, uniting Regina musicians Nate Hilts on lead vocals, guitar, and mandolin, Scott Pringle on guitar, mandolin, and vocals, Colton Crawford on banjo, and Danny Kenyon on cello and vocals. They first appeared on record in 2013 with the five-song EP The Ocean Went Mad and We Were to Blame, then completed their debut full-length Good Company, which the German indie label Devil Duck Records acquired in 2014 and promoted through several overseas tours over the next few years. For the 2016 successor Illusion & Doubt, they enlisted Regina producer Jason Plumb and signed with Toronto-based Curve Music; the album broke through by landing in the Top Five of Billboard's bluegrass chart and elevating their visibility. Illustrating their range, they teamed with Canadian hip-hop artist Rich Kidd for a reworked version of the 2014 song "In Hell I'll Be in Good Company," issued in summer 2017. Sugar & Joy reached stores in October 2019 and hit number one on Billboard's Bluegrass chart, serving as their first release for Six Shooter Records, which also issued the 2021 concert album Served Live. The following year the Dead South issued the double-EP covers collection Easy Listening for Jerks, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2, featuring reinterpretations of songs by the Carter Family, the Doors, and Misfits. For their fourth studio album the group headed to Mexico City to work with producer Jimmy Nutt at Panoram Studios, resulting in Chains & Stakes, which Six Shooter released in February 2024.