Mather Louth and Radio Noir

Drawing equally from the swampy-grit of wailer Screamin' Jay Hawkins, the funeral balladry of Nick Cave, the junkie blues of the Velvet Underground, and the heartbroken bourbon-jazz of Billie Holiday, Mather Louth and Radio Noir paint a musical landscape in various gradations of black. Led by a self-described "part-time Siren, part-time Harpy", Mather Louth and Radio Noir are accustomed to defying genres. Depending on their frame of mind for that particular day, the band alternately calls th...

Drawing equally from the swampy-grit of wailer Screamin' Jay Hawkins, the funeral balladry of Nick Cave, the junkie blues of the Velvet Underground, and the heartbroken bourbon-jazz of Billie Holiday, Mather Louth and Radio Noir paint a musical landscape in various gradations of black. Led by a self-described "part-time Siren, part-time Harpy", Mather Louth and Radio Noir are accustomed to defying genres. Depending on their frame of mind for that particular day, the band alternately calls their music "swamp jazz" or "burlesque blues", with Louth's voice having been described as "sexy and mesmeric- like a narcotic of some sort". Originally hailing from the East Coast, lead singer Mather Louth moved out to Los Angeles in the winter of 2004. Teaching herself to play left-handed on a right-handed, beaten-up guitar pawned from her first roommate, Louth fully took advantage of the low-end tone her technique provided and began composing original primal, dirty blues with acerbic lyrics that clearly reveal her love for the written word. Thematically, the band presents Louth's sagas of doomed wanderers ("Vultures"), self-assured seductresses ("Damned Lady") star-crossed lovers ("Desert Woman"), and broken-hearted prostitutes ("Fever Jane"). As Louth familiarized herself with the banjo, newer songs overwhelmingly became influenced by tales of macabre murders so prevalent in the American roots culture. Notably, the band performs a version of Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" that successfully channels the desperation lying dormant within the lyrics. Pieced together one by one, the current lineup consists of Adam Bankhead on percussion, Randall Keith on upright bass and backup vocals, Mather Louth on lead vocals, guitar, and banjo, and Jon Nilsen on tenor and Baritone saxophone. **Mather Louth is an official proud member of ASCAP.