The Black Tongued Bells - Every Tongue Has a Tale to Tell (2013)

Gothic-Gospel Juju anyone?
Singular "American Swamp Music" stylists THE BLACK TONGUED BELLS perpetrate an accomplished, yet subtly hazardous, brand of Spiritual Mayhem. Working a sound imbued with Deep Blues menace, soul-stirring Gospel and hopped-up Rock & Roll desperation, The Bells' blend of musical vernacular perversion, offbeat expression and intoxicating atmospherics infects with a flash-bang fever from which there is no recovery.
—Jonny Whiteside, LA WEEKLY
Every tongue has a tale to tell and we got more than our fair share.
We took our name from a Dylan Thomas poem and, in the winter of 2001, set out to create our own brand of roots music – dubbed “American Swamp”. We tap everything from Roots Rock and Roll, Blues and Motown to Americana, Cajun and Gospel. Once forced to describe the Bells sound in a single sentence, D. Miner replied; “Imagine if the Stones came from Louisiana…they might sound like us”.
We’re known for two distinctly different types of show. The first is our Electrified Roots Rock ‘n Roll Show for which we plug-in and are joined by our gospel singers and, on occasion, special guest artists. Our brand of roots music has proven to be a great fit with Blues, Rock, Americana and Country acts. Our “American Swamp Music” goes well with them all.
Our second show is an all acoustic “Swamp Opera” entitled; That Great and Dreadful Day…Tall Tales from the American Swamp. A play of the musical theatre variety, it employs the classic combination of storyteller and song with a cast of seven in period costume staged on a sharecropper’s cabin set. Tales are told in story and song that take the audience on a journey through the Depression Era, the War Years and into the 1960s. Sold-out performances and standing ovations continue to propel this production.