One of country music’s most beloved qualities is actually one of my least favorite aspects of the genre: its direct, easy-to-understand lyrics and emotions. Sure, when it’s done well by distinct singers, it can’t be beat, but I’m getting a degree in English. I like a little poetry in my lyrics.

This is why I absolutely love singer/songwriter Neko Case. She has such a wonderfully distinct and powerful voice that could run circles around Carrie Underwood or Faith Hill, yet her lyrics are filled with strange – and at times violent – imagery that excites the imagination.

“Dirty Knife” is a slow-burner that starts chillingly with Case’s understated, “So suddenly the madness came / with it’s whiskered wolven ether pangs.” As the backing band softly plucks their guitars, it gives the madness a surreal sense of calm and order.

But as soon as the “blood runs crazy,” the instrumentation starts to unwind and Case describes an ambiguous scene of man cornered by wolves and insanity, “In the glow of the furniture / piled high for firewood,” while a cello rumbles an ominous melody.

All the while, Case keeps just enough sweetness in her voice to keep the song as beautiful on the surface as it is creepy underneath. Even the lyrics have a kind of nursery-rhyme quality to them, like the line “and the woodsman failed to reach those fangs in time … “

So while truer country fans can have their Taylor Swifts and Dolly Partons, this indie-geek will take Neko Case any day because of the mystery and weirdness she brings to the genre.

From the album ‘Fox Confessors Brings the Flood’ (2006).