Middle Tennessee dark-country troubadour Coleman Williams (IV) joined forces with his Strange Band at Jason Dietz’s Twin Oak Recordings in Murfreesboro (with the assistance of musician/producer David Talley) to embark on the creative journey that resulted in Southern Circus, IV and The Strange Band’s debut album.
Containing 12 tracks and clocking in at 44 minutes, Circus blends the time-honored traditions of Nashville country & western with a modern twist. It features soulful solo acoustic guitar ballads and foot-tapping shuffles, augmented by The Strange Band’s banjo, lap steel guitar and fiddle, which meld with the roaring intensity of high-watt-driven heavy metal and punk-thrash bangers to create a sound uniquely emblematic of the culturally polarized 2020s.
Lyrically, Williams takes on a persona that channels the enigmatic world of carnival and hobo clowns. His songs explore themes of love, struggle, personal growth, family and death (delving into such murky territories as incest and serial killings). His vocal delivery alternates between crooning and goat-vibrato, adding a distinctive touch to his storytelling.
IV shared his inspiration for one of the disc’s starlight-gazing country tunes, “Train,” at a 2022 live performance at Nashville venue The Basement: “I wrote this song about trains. They’re very important to me. They kept me out of trouble, and got me into some trouble, but y’know, if you don’t get stabbed once, or maybe go to jail once, or twice, you don’t learn a lot of the things you get to learn . . . sometimes the greatest things that can teach you lessons aren’t people, but objects, and this is about my love of travel.”
“I’m Gonna Haunt You,” a profoundly dark and captivating jealousy ballad, opens with eerie notes that foreshadow the song’s sinister atmosphere. Other tracks on Southern Circus, like the “saloon-y tune” “Drinkin’ Sad” (banjoist Daniel Mason works in some effectively silly string bends here) and “Filth” further showcase the band’s diverse musicality and storytelling prowess. Shooter Jennings, whose Black Country Rock label co-released the album, guests on piano on a number of tracks. As the son of groundbreaking “Outlaw” movement linchpin Waylon Jennings, he brings a second iconic country bloodline to the table and the kindred element of another country music legacy known for boldly fusing genres and bending rules.
Southern Circus is more than a compelling country-grunge debut album; it’s an opportunity to witness a killer band continuing to evolve the spirit of the East Nashville alt-country scene of the 2010s into the 2020s. It feels similar to the impact of observing the early progression of roots standbys like Old Crow Medicine Show or The Band.
Find IV & The Strange Band’s Southern Circus on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, iHeart and at ivsonofiii.bandcamp.com. Physical copies, including CDs and 33 RPM vinyl, are available through ivandthestrangeband.com.
