A glimpse into the hauntingly intricate world of Ethel Cain
- Sharon Arulnesan
- Nov 12
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 12
Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s Daughter and Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You blur the line between reality and fiction
By Sharon Arulnesan
Ethel Cain performing at All Points East festival in 2024. (Joseph Okpako/WireImage)
Content warning: This article contains themes of trauma, abuse, murder, cannibalism and drug use.
As someone who obsesses over every symbol and metaphor an author scatters throughout a work of fiction, Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s Daughter and Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You (WTIALY) were destined to be two of my all-time favourite albums.
Preacher’s Daughter and WTIALY are two chapters of the same story. Preacher’s Daughter traces the journey of a fictional, tormented teenage girl named Ethel Cain (named after the musician) who grows up in a small religious town, and eventually flees due to the trauma and restraints she feels from growing up in the church. Ethel meets an even more twisted fate while hitchhiking—she falls victim to an abusive man who, at first, Ethel is enamoured with, but later, murders and cannibalizes her.
If Preacher’s Daughter is the doomed sequence of events that led to Ethel’s demise, then WTIALY is the dreamy, yet devastatingly evocative, prequel. WTIALY is all about the uncertainties and feelings of loss when confronted with your first love. The album centers around Ethel’s love for an equally troubled boy, Willoughby Tucker, who grew up with a quick-to-anger father and is the one true source of happiness for Ethel during her teenage years. It exposes us to Ethel’s innocent, child-like wonder and fragility, but also her constant fear of losing Willoughby. Her anxieties come true as a tornado hits their community, and Willoughby moves out of town, never to be seen again by Ethel.
What makes Cain’s music so special and unforgettable is the effortless way she blends her own upbringing into the fictional world she’s built. Cain is from a rural town in Florida and grew up trying to cope with trauma that stems from her time in the church. Her own experiences subtly intertwine with the albums' rich, emotionally charged characters to present the two records in one cohesive, nightmarish tale.
I especially love how these albums force you to sit down and listen to them in their entirety. In the era we live in, music listeners are prone to skipping and shuffling, and it’s rare to appreciate the artistry and intentional way a musician lays out their tracklist. Cain’s dedication to immersing her fans in her atmospheric world can undoubtedly put a strain on the listener—her songs can be as long as 15 minutes, and some are purely instrumental. But for those willing to step away from what we typically hear on mainstream radio, the melodic journey is entirely worth it.
Here are some of my favourite songs from Preacher’s Daughter and Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You:
“A House in Nebraska”
Track three on Preacher’s Daughter, “A House in Nebraska,” really sets the tone for the rest of the album. The nearly eight-minute song is about Ethel reminiscing on her love with Willoughby, missing all the experiences they shared, after he skips town.
This song builds up gradually; you can feel the memories rushing back to Ethel as the lyrics progress. The ‘house in Nebraska’ referred to in the title is the abandoned house where Ethel and Willoughby used to spend time, living out their fantasy of one day escaping their suffocating hometown. It serves as a symbol of a safe haven and a source of hope for the future.
“Thoroughfare”
“Thoroughfare” is track seven on Preacher’s Daughter, and the first thing you’ll notice is that this song is long. Sitting at over nine minutes long, this song, to me, is the turning point of the album. This is the part of the story where Ethel meets the man who will eventually murder and cannibalize her. But for now, “Thoroughfare” describes the initial meeting with this seemingly charming man. The lyrics describe Ethel meeting this man on a desolate road in Texas, where she hops into his truck, and the two drive off to California, staying in dingy motels and eating at cheap diners along the way.
This song really stands out due to the rhythmic harmonica whistling throughout the track. It truly makes “Thoroughfare” sound like the song playing in the background of a Western film where the two main characters are road-tripping across the country.
“Strangers”
“Strangers” is the final track of Preacher’s Daughter, and is the ultimate sign-off (literally and figuratively). This song, told from the perspective of Ethel in the afterlife, is all about Ethel coming to terms with her fate after she’s been cannibalized and shoved into a freezer. She expresses deep remorse for how her actions have affected her worried mother and finally accepts how the long chain of events that make up Preacher’s Daughter were brought about by her own doing.
What makes this song so stirring is the repetition of the line “am I making you feel sick?” which refers to Ethel asking her former lover if consuming her body parts is making him feel ill. Whether the line is meant to be perceived as Ethel genuinely being worried that he has an upset stomach, or if she’s asking him in a mocking, sarcastic tone, is up to the listener’s interpretation.
“Nettles”
When I think of Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, “Nettles” stands out to me as the song that defines the album. I think it encapsulates the love story Cain is trying to tell—one that is full of tragedy, heartbreak, and emotional turbulence.
“Nettles” is track four of WTIALY, the point in the album where Ethel and Willoughby start dating. But she is tormented by insecurities about her desire to be loved while acknowledging her own flaws. Throughout the song, Ethel dreams about her and Willoughby’s life together, and the rural, small-town imagery scattered in the track emphasizes her yearning for a simple life with Willoughby.
“Dust Bowl”
This sluggish-tempo song sits as the sixth track on WTIALY. This is the point in the album when Ethel starts to see all the flaws in Willoughby, including his drug use, strained relationship with his father, and deep-rooted fear of the weather.
This song makes clever use of metaphor. The Dust Bowl, the title of the song, refers to a series of devastating dust storms that affected regions of the Canadian and American prairies during the 1930s. The aftermath of the Dust Bowl left many towns in desperate straits, with many residents forced to migrate due to financial turmoil and inhospitable conditions. Just like how the real-life victims of the Dust Bowl were left in ruins, Ethel reflects on how her relationship with Willoughby is soon to be met with a similar fate.
“Waco, Texas”
“Waco, Texas” is the final track on WTIALY and is a whopping 15 minutes long. This song is about the aftermath of the tornado that wreaks havoc on Ethel and Willoughby's town, and plays a similar role as “Strangers,” with both songs acting as the finale of their respective albums. A recurring theme throughout WTIALY is Ethel wondering what could’ve been, what really is, and coming to terms with real life. This song contrasts the different perspectives Ethel and Willoughby hold towards their future: Ethel thinks of what to name their future children, while Willoughby is preoccupied with wondering how he will provide for them financially.
Ultimately, Ethel realizes her naivety and irrational view towards what love is, and the image she’s carved of Willoughby was never really meant to last.
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