The Dead South - In Hell I'll Be In Good Company [Official Music Video]

 This is  the viral video smash by the Canadian "bluegrass" group-The Dead South.  They have been described as Mumford and Sons' Evil Twins.   Yeah- the same idea- roots music sort of updated for modern sensibilities.  The first thing you notice about the group is the pioneer style clothes-but quickly you are also quite enthralled  by  the musicianship  and lead singer's scratchy voice.

The fellow in the beginning of the video is Danny Kenyon. Kenyon fingers his cello to achieve something like the sound of a bass-he occasionally sings as well.  The second fellow over (with the thick beard)  is Scott Pringle, he typically plays mandolin and is the group's main backing singer-and secondary lead vocalist.  The lead singer is Nate Hilts-this  guy looks the part of some old western character. He also plays guitar.  The fellow on the banjo is  Colton "Crawdaddy"  Crawford.  He had to leave the band for a couple of years-but is back in the band.  He was replaced during that  time by the  excellent Canadian banjo player-Eliza Maria Doyle. Also on occasion, Eric Mehlson filled in for Danny Kenyon, who sometimes took time to work his day job in Regina  as a engineer. In August 2020, Kenyon left the band for a time, due to accusations of sexual misconduct while he was in high school. However, he has been reinstated.  The group is very popular in Europe as well as Canada and the USA.

Dead South with the two fill in members, cellist Eric Melhson (on left), and  banjo player, Eliza Mary Doyle.

The video for "In Hell I'll Be In Good Company" was , directed by Zach Wilson of Two Brothers Films  and was   filmed in numerous locations many  around Regina,  Saskatchewan and other parts of Canada. Among the over thirty  locations were the Trafalgar Fountain in Regina, Vintage Vinyl & Hemp in Regina, near the  CN Tower in Toronto, and  the Great Western Brewery in Saskatoon.  There  are  about 400 different shots in the video.    The  group was   actually  physically there in all these places. There are-no green screens  used.  What a continuity nightmare for whomever had them stay in their marks.

 The farm country   around  Regina  is quite beautiful. It always seemed strange to me that this  part of the world in the middle of Canada is one of the world's bread baskets-considering how up far north it is. Anyway, "In Hell I'll Be in Company"  is from the album,  Good Company  which  was recorded with the help of Orion Paradis, a producer  at SoulSound Studios in Regina.  The album was released in April 2014.

As much as the song sounds like it was written long ago-it is in fact an original song  by the group, written  mostly by Nate Hilts. The group has also shot  other  videos with  Two Brothers. One was the  story video for "Boots", a song from their 2016 album, Illusion and Doubt.  That video  was filmed mostly around Wadena, Saskatchewan.   I believe  that the women  portraying the siren in the video is actually Nate Hilts' real life significant other. The video for "Boots" follows.

The  group put out their most recent  album Sugar and Joy in 2019. A new EP came in 2021.

The fan video for "In Hell" that came in 2020.
Originally published January 2019