Raised in the shadows of Appalachia, singer/songwriter/guitarist Louis Garou has practiced the Craft for over fifty years while also conjuring his Dark Americana music. A farmer and poet, Garou weaves tales of Goddesses, Love and Death, revenge, and dark nights of the soul into music that blends folk, rural blues and backwoods bardic traditions.
In such songs as “Rise Up Lilith,” “Queen of Wolves” and “Pleasure in the Pain,” he sings of people haunted and alone . . . of people best left alone, and beings who are not quite . . . people.
Rick de Yampert, former rock music writer for the Tennessean in Nashville and former arts and pop culture writer for Wildhunt.org, says of Garou: “As poet Khalil Gibran, mystic philosopher Alan Watts and others say — light and dark must always dance together. But too often people dread dancing in, or even near, the shadows. Fortunately we have Louis Garou, that Dark Americana bard, who dares to peek . . . no, to stare intensely into the abyss and sing about what he has seen . . . the abyss where the wolves and obsessive passions of our human psyches reside, and where the necessary shadows of the Goddesses and Gods beckon to us, too.
“Now she’s gettin’ no rest, she failed the pregnancy test.
How’s she gonna care for a little child?
She can barely feed herself, No food’s left on the shelf.
Frustration makes her rage and scream and cry.”
Written to add another step to the ladder of outrage that is The Red Album: Pagan Voices for Reproductive Rights, Louis’s dark track is the story of a young woman suffocated by her pregnancy and desperation, with no legal way out of having her life cruelly stolen… Because of a lack of choice… Because her bodily autonomy was legislated out of existence. Like many other impoverished women, she chose death rather than a life of slavery to biology. There are no winners in this race.
An excellent interview with Louis was published on The Wild Hunt, which you can read here. In this video, Mama Gina chatted with Louis about the creative process–well worth watching! He also performs regularly at pagan festivals and events.
Louis Garou on the web
- Buy Louis’ music on Bandcamp: http://louisgarou.bandcamp.com
- Follow Louis Garou on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/louis.garou.54 and here https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100032758055629
Louis’s blog posts:
Dark Mother’s Tears
Cruel World: Song for Tower Time
Sacred Ashes
The Dance of the Already Dead
