Johnny Lawhorn and the Pentagram String Band

Johnny Lawhorn and the Pentagram String Band play Farewell Coffee & Booze on Wednesday, October 14, starting at 7 PM. They're a Kansas City band, so this is a local night in the city.

If you've never heard them, the name is a good place to start. They describe themselves as a satanic bluegrass band, and they aren't kidding about the satanic part. They're suspicious of traditional bluegrass, and they trade its usual sunny, front-porch sound for something they call gothic folk, punk and thrash metal. The lyrics lean into the dark side, too—cannibalism and murder come up often, and the songs center on Satan, misery and the joys of death. It's bluegrass stripped of the cheer and replaced with something a lot more grim.

The band is a trio: Nicole Bax, Matty Moore and Johnny Lawhorn. Between them they cover the bluegrass basics, but they play them with a punk edge and a thrash metal lean, so it's less about the picking and more about the weight of it. The whole thing sits right in that gothic folk territory they claim, and the lyrics keep it firmly in the dark.

It's a mid-week show, Wednesday night at Farewell Coffee & Booze, and it kicks off at 7 PM. If you're into bluegrass but wish it were a bit more sinister, this is exactly that.