Rod Melancon Announces New Album 'SOUTHERN GOTHIC' Out June 16

Courtesy MSO PR

(Press Release) Americana roots rock  artist  ROD MELANCON  announces his new  10-track album  SOUTHERN GOTHIC   is set for release on  Friday, June 16   via  Blue Elan Records  and will be available  digitally  and  physically  on  CD  and  vinyl. Marking his second full-length album, it takes listeners further into the light and darkness of his own poetic vision with songs based on tales of the people from his  South Louisiana  homeland. The lead single, "Redhead," will be released  March 28 th and  SOUTHERN GOTHIC   will be available for  pre-order  the same day with  gratis tracks, "Dwayne & Me"  and  "Redhead."
 
In support of the album,  MELANCON  will begin a  20-date tour  in  Houston, TX  on  Thursday,  March 30  at  Leon's Lounge  and make stops in  Nashville, TN,  Atlanta, GA,  Birmingham, AL  and  Tampa Bay, FL  among other cities before wrapping in  Austin, TX  on  Friday, April 28  a t The White Horse. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit:  http://www.rodmelancon.com/tour-dates.
 

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SOUTHERN GOTHIC--recorded over the course of two years--is a journey into the dark, and often twisted, night of the soul. It is the restless yearning of a young, new South that has been represented by The Drive-By Truckers, Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell. With this new album, MELANCON  takes an unflinching look inside the heart of Americana darkness as he stylistically dives deeper into the roots of his own imagination nurtured in the badlands and bayous of his home.
 
"There were stories I heard growing up about family members that I had always wanted to write about," says MELANCON. "I just didn't feel like I was ready to try to tackle them yet. They were personal tales and I wanted to do them justice. One day I just sat down and started in on 'Perry.' A troubled cousin I never met but had heard tale of. It was working and I knew I was finally ready. Nothing feels better than feeling like you're growing as an artist. I was ready to tell their story."
 
MELANCON  pushes the sonic soundscape on  SOUTHERN GOTHIC. "I wanted to explore more than the go-to Americana template," he shares. "Instead of where a steel guitar would maybe go, let's add a pulsating synthesizer. I wanted to do something original--to push the boundaries of what's expected from an Americana artist. I wanted the production to reflect the character's state of mind. 'With The Devil' opens with what I imagine the inside of that man's head sounds like." 
 
On  SOUTHERN GOTHIC,  MELANCON  has not only written what he is intimately familiar with, he also gives us a portrait of his love for the land of his childhood and the souls he has encountered during his lifetime. There are songs here that reflect the restlessness of the heartland ("Promises") alongside the in-cold-blood feel of the yearnings of a serial killer ("With the Devil"). Then, he and producer Brian Whelan  change things up as they allow the listener to come up for air on grungy raunch & roll rockers like"Redhead" and an update of Buddy Holly by way of Bob Dylan on "Mary Lou." MELANCON  and  Whelan  brilliantly segue the solid roots of rock 'n' roll and R&B into serious industrial metal-fused psychedelic music on songs like "Lights of Carencro" and the rage-filled anti-war anthem,  "Different Man,"re-created here, from the  Parish Lines album (2014), to new heights.