I've really gotten hooked on this band
Wovenhand lately as well as another band with the same main guy,
16 Horsepower. Both feature David Eugene Edwards and I've heard their style called "Appalachian gothic" or "southern gothic." All I know is I'm loving it...it's incredible music with great lyrics as well. Kind of dark acoustic folk with bluegrass, celtic and other americana influences. 16 horsepower has more overt rock influences and wovenhand is mostly straight acoustic.
Here's a couple of (legal) free mp3 from Wovenhand:
Sparrow FallsWhite BirdFor a 16 Horsepower song go to this page and stream or download:
16 Horsepower at Epitonic.comand if you have a cdnow/amazon account you can download a free mp3 from them
here as well.
I'm also really digging what I'm hearing of this Austin band called
The Murder Mystery but I can't track down any CDs. Apparently they only sell them at shows. Here are a couple of mp3s:
Tom Waits fans might appreciate this first one,
Paint the TownThe Reason WhyI've also been digging some stuff from this group
The Shivers but they're kind of hit or miss:
BeautyOf course I always dig
Tom Waits, Soul Junk, Medeski Martin and Wood, King Crimson, etc...
I really do listen to a large variety of music but lately I've been on this kind of melancholy acoustic type thing.
brad cook