At 80 years old, country legend Charlie Louvin has been enjoying a creative resurgence, recording several albums of uncompromising old-time country music, the way it was done when he and brother Ira were superstars in the field. This collection is focused, as its title implies, on death and other bad situations. Many are country standards that have been around for decades and have been covered by numerous artists. Louvin gives them all a sincere effort with his worn, limited voice adding pathos to these classics. With pedal steel and fiddle fueling the backing, "Katy Dear," "The Little Grave In Georgia," "Wreck of the Old 97," and "Wreck On the Highway" could have been recorded decades ago. The tales are hair-raising and epic and make much of today's modern song subject matter seem trivial, small, and narcissistic. Children die frozen on doorsteps, car crashes leave no survivors, trains roll off the tracks, suicide looms, and damnation is surely on the horizon.