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June 16, 2021
Chris Offutt's Playlist for His Novel "The Killing Hills"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Chris Offutt's novel The Killing Hills is a work of brilliant Southern noir.
Publishers Weekly wrote of the book:
"The lean prose elicits more than a hard-boiled style, and while the brisk yet gnarled atmosphere is reminiscent of Winter’s Bone, the dime-store crime novels of Jim Thompson, or even William Faulkner’s Sanctuary, Offutt brilliantly evokes the body and soul of his wounded hero. It adds up to a mesmerizing and nightmarish view of what lurks just over the hills. This is sure to be Offutt’s breakout."
In his words, here is Chris Offutt's Book Notes music playlist for his novel The Killing Hills:
When there’s a murder in the hills of eastern Kentucky, half the county knows who did it and why. The Killing Hills concerns a homicide that contradicts the norm—everyone loved the victim and nobody knows who did it. It’s also the first murder for the county’s first female sheriff. She enlists the aid of her brother, a troubled combat veteran and experienced investigator in the army CID.
When I finished The Killing Hills I learned that it was the first crime novel set in eastern Kentucky. This surprised me because it’s an ideal setting for a crime series--a lawless country where families tend to deal with disputes on their own. But writing is not the primary form of personal expression in the hills. Music is. The history of American music is filled with stars from eastern Kentucky.
Despite this heritage, there were no record stores when I was a kid. The only radio station played country music exclusively. Late at night, if the weather wasn’t bad, I tuned my small radio to WLS out of Chicago. The music offered a glimpse into the world beyond the hills.
Most of the characters in The Killing Hills grew up after the Internet made diverse music widely available. Though fictional, they are luckier than I was.
Mick Hardin grew up in the woods and prefers the sound of birds, wind, and rustling leaves. He rarely listens to music in the military, thinking it better to keep his senses alert--with one exception. After combat he listens to a continuous loop of Tibetan Singing Bowls combined with the sound of rain.
Linda Hardin was heavily influenced by her mother’s collection of 8-tracks and cassettes. Mrs. Hardin’s favorite band was Led Zeppelin, which she called “The Zep.” She also listened to The Aerosmith, Cream, and The Rush. Linda later developed her own taste for bands fronted by women. Her favorites are Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, and Chrissie Hynde.
“Brass in Pocket,” The Pretenders
Johnny Boy Tolliver is a traditionalist in all things including country music. His taste begins with Hank Williams and ends with Lynyrd Skynyrd. He cried alone when Johnny Cash died. At age eighteen Johnny Boy wrote a letter to the Grand Ole Opry denouncing pop-country. He was terribly disappointed not to receive a letter back. Mostly he listens to the radio in his car and complains about the awful music on the local station
“I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive,” Hank Williams
Special Agent Wilson listens to soundtracks from video games. He keeps this to himself because most people think this particular choice is weird, an opinion he agrees with. His favorite music is from World of Warcraft. He owns two different bootlegs of the score from the movie based on the game.
“Legend of Azeroth,” main theme for WoW
Tanner Curtis listens to most forms of metal. Nobody he knew listened to this music. For community he turned to the internet and spent hours a night in passionate debate about the nuances and intricacies of metal, including the differences between Teutonic thrash and traditional thrash. His favorite band is Gallhammer, a Japanese band.
“Hallucination,” Gallhammer
Frankie Johnson loves everything his older cousins do—DMX, NWA, and Tupac. It wasn’t the lyrics or the political messages that interested them but the generalized anger pulsing through the beats. Early rap matches the fury and frustration felt by young people in the hills. To distinquish himself from his cousins, Frankie’s favorite band is Wu-Tang Clan.
“Protect Ya Neck,” Wu-Tang Clan
Mr. Tucker was born in the 1930s and heard gospel at church and bluegrass played by neighbors outside. The only other music he heard was confined to the radio and an occasional jukebox. He liked Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, and Ernest Tubb. His favorite song is Blue Moon of Kentucky. He bought a forty-five version and kept it safe for decades but never listened to it because he never owned a record player.
“Blue Moon of Kentucky,” Bill Monroe
Chris Offutt is also the author of novels Country Dark and The Good Brother, the short-story collections Kentucky Straight and Out of the Woods, and three memoirs: The Same River Twice, No Heroes, and My Father, the Pornographer. His work has appeared in Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays, among many other places. He has written screenplays for Weeds, True Blood, and Treme, and has received fellowships from the Lannan and Guggenheim foundations. He lives in rural Lafayette County near Oxford, Mississippi.
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