In a bar called The Bucket of Blood a man shoots the bartender four times in the head. In the
small town of Millhaven a teenage girl secretly and gleefully murders her neighbors. A serial
killer travels from home to home quoting John Milton in his victims' blood. Murder Ballads
the ninth studio album from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is a gruesome blood-splattered
reimagining of English ballads American folk and blues music and classic literature. Most of
the stories told on Murder Ballads have been interpreted many times but never before had they
been so graphic or profane. Though earning the band their first Parental Advisory warning label
Murder Ballads released in 1996 brought Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds their biggest critical
and commercial success thanks in part to the award-winning single Where the Wild Roses Grow
an unlikely duet with Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue. Closely examining each of the ten
songs on the album Santi Elijah Holley investigates the stories behind the songs and the
numerous ways these ballads have been interpreted through the years. Murder Ballads is a tour
through the evolution of folk music and a journey into the dark secrets of American history.
