John Came Home – Benjamin Dakota Rogers

Happy Monday! This one is good for putting us in the Halloween spirit, I think. I came across Benjamin Dakota Rogers on TikTok of all places, and was stopped in my doom scrolling tracks by the opening guitar lick of “John Came Home“. I have long been a proponent of “Make Murder Ballads Great Again,” and I’ve gotta say, this one certainly helps the movement.

“John Came Home” tells us the story of a man returning from war (in my mind, WW1) and finding a note left by his wife, explaining that she had left him for his brother and they were currently looking for a preacher to marry them. John flies into a rage, and I love the line.

“When the oak trees are so tall the mountains feels small, they’ll remember the wrath of my storm“.

This shows that John is fully aware he’s about to commit an act that will throw him into infamy. The next few lines are great as well.

“He took out his knife and he carved out the light
Of a future in the eyes of the lord
Strung him up high silhouetted in the sky
Let the ravens pick him to the bone
When the law man came by he turned down his eyes
Not to gaze upon the brother of John“

The use of the word “carved” is particularly brutal here, saying that John took away any chance he had of getting to Heaven and also going on to explain he mutilated and strung his own brother up so badly that the lawman who discovered the body couldn’t even look at it. My initial thought was very Edgar Allan Poe.

The song ends on an ominous note, with John’s wife waiting for his brother at a train station, only be surprised by John putting a gun in her side and while saying he won’t kill her, he does want her to know what he’s done.

“When you see I killed the man that you love‘

This is a great way to end the song, with a possible double meaning, not only did he kill his brother, but in a way, himself as well.

This instrumentation in this song sounds like it should be playing over a horseback chase through the mountains of Appalachia. I love the guitar, and the way he sings reminds me a bit of Tyler Childers. (Not comparing the two but think “Nose On the Grindstone“)

Link to song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD3H5cx_eJM

Link to live – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnoBzSTLzHw