Tav Falco's Panther Burns, sometimes shortened to
(The) Panther Burns, is a rock band originally from
Memphis,
Tennessee,
United States, led by
Tav Falco. They are best known for having been part of a set of bands emerging in the late 1970s and early 1980s who helped nationally popularize the blending of
blues,
country, and other American
traditional music styles with rock music among groups playing in
alternative music and
punk music venues of the time. The earliest and most renowned of these groups to imbue these styles with
expressionist theatricality and primitive spontaneity were
The Cramps, largely influenced by
rockabilly music. Forming just after them in 1979, Panther Burns drew on obscure
country blues music,
Antonin Artaud's works like
The Theater and Its Double,
beat poetry, and
Marshall McLuhan's media theories for their early inspiration. Alongside groups like The Cramps and
The Gun Club, Panther Burns ranked among the contributing influences and progenitors of the
Southern Gothic-tinged
roots music revival scene that arose during the last two decades of the 20th century and continued into the early 2000s.