Jerry Joseph Releases Unintentionally Timely “Dead Confederate”

On Friday, Jerry Joseph released the final single, "Dead Confederate," leading up to the release of The Beautiful Madness, produced by Patterson Hood with Drive-By Truckers as his band, due on August 21.

Jason Isbell plays guitar on this unintentionally timely song. "Dead Confederate" was included in Rolling Stone Country's Music Picks for the Week and in Glide Magazine, Jim Hynes raved, "'Dead Confederate' should receive consideration for 'Song of the Year'."

Written four years ago, in the defiant voice of a confederate statue that is being torn down, "Dead Confederate" is powerfully anti-racist and also potentially problematic for the casual listener.

In the album's extensive liner notes, Patterson recalls the first time he heard the song, "Jerry played me 'Dead Confederate', one afternoon at my house shortly after he had written it. I'm yet to hear it all the way through without experiencing chills and tearing up. Literally. As close to Faulkner-esque as a song can get, it risks misunderstanding in these often-unenlightened times. The song has the potential to take heat from all sides, which is unfortunate as it's one of the best songs about prejudice and racial hatred that I have ever heard."

He continues, "Let there be no misunderstanding, this song comes down hard against the evils of bigotry and hate but does so by telling its story in the defiant voice of a confederate statue that is being torn down. It tells of its horrors from a point of view that challenges our own preconceived perceptions (from an unsympathetic narrator). It does so, while totally remaining in character throughout. Boldly proclaiming it's wrong-headed ideals in the face of a rightly (and long overdue) changing world. One that's not changing fast enough. It nails its narrative portrait in ways that I've only heard pulled off by Randy Newman. I've personally spent a large part of my artistic life trying to write the same kind of song and I've never written one as good as 'Dead Confederate'."

Jerry explains, "To be crystal clear, I think every one of the confederate statues should be pulled down and ground into dust. Not because I'm afraid of history or antiquity, but because I believe most of those statues were put up during the Jim Crow era. I think they were all put there for hate."

Hear Jerry talk about the inspiration behind this song and perform it solo from Paste Studios in Atlanta: https://youtu.be/Re4r8SI0oFo?t=751

Patterson recounts the recording of the song, "Unlike the rest of the album, Jerry had actually worked up a version of 'Dead Confederate' with a band and wasn't initially planning on putting this on the album. I insisted that we cut a version, with just Jerry playing and singing the song by himself with no accompaniment. He sat in the tracking room and played it through in one take as the rest of us stood in the control room with chills. After spending a couple of months listening to it, we decided to add just a couple of things to push it over the edge. Jason Isbell was kind enough to play slide on his vintage 1959 Les Paul through a "Dumble modded vintage blackface Princeton amp" taking 'Dead Confederate' to the next level. Kyleen King played viola and I added a harmony on the last chorus."

The Beautiful Madness is Uncut's Americana Album of the Month for August. They included "Dead Confederate" on the CD accompanying the magazine. Uncut praises, "This is songcraft without filters, an intense outpouring of raw expression that edges towards some kind of emotional catharsis... An album for the times..."

Jerry has previously released four other singles from The Beautiful Madness, the uplifting "Days of Heaven" with a video featuring live footage of Jerry and Drive-By Truckers performing in Athens; the feel-good "Full Body Echo" with a video created by musician and artist Abe Partridge; the dark "Bone Towers" with a video created by Thomas Van Genderen; and the political rant "Sugar Smacks" accompanied by a video featuring footage from Jerry's worldwide travels.

The Beautiful Madness was recorded at Matt Patton's studio, Dial Back Sound, in Water Valley, Mississippi, with chief engineer, Bronson Tew. The band, christened The Stiff Boys by Joseph, was Brad Morgan on drums, Matt Patton on bass, Hood on guitar and Jay Gonzalez on piano, organ, Wurlitzer and synthesizer. Schaefer Llana sang harmonies and vocals. They recorded the album in six days.

Later Mike Cooley added banjo and guitar and Jason Isbell played slide guitar on Dead Confederate. Kyleen King (Brandi Carlisle, The Shins, Stephen Malkmus) played viola on several tracks and Little Sue Weaver added harmonies. Adam Lee mixed the whole thing at Halfling Studio in Portland Oregon. The 10-song album will be released on August 21, 2020 on Cosmo Sex School/Soundly Music in North America and Décor Records/El Cortez in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Jerry Joseph hosts Jerry Joseph's Happy Book every Thursday at 9pm EDT/6pmPDT on all his social media channels, more info here. Live from his home or The Panther Studios in Portland, Joseph performs and tells the stories behind his catalog of over 300 songs with occasional guests. Past episodes can be found on his YouTube page.

To post a comment, you must register and login.