Video premiere: Delta Rae's 'Dance in the Graveyards'

• The North Carolina group's new video has a Halloween/Day of the Dead theme
• 'Dance in the Graveyards' was inspired by the deaths of two of Ian Holljes' close friends
• The song appears on the group's 'Carry the Fire' album

The walking dead? Try the dancing dead.

That's the concept behind Delta Rae's video for Dance in the Graveyards.

The North Carolina folk-rock group formed around siblings Ian, Eric and Brittany Holljes is known for its percussiveness and soaring harmonies, both of which are shown to great effect in Dance in the Graveyards. The song appears on the group's album, Carry the Fire, which came out in June.

The macabre but ultimately touching and lovely clip offers a twist on typical Halloween fare. Dressed in Day of the Dead costumes, the members of the group -- which also consists of singer Elizabeth Hopkins, percussionist Mike McKee and bassist Grant Emerson -- approach a cemetery and call forth the loved ones of those buried there.

Ian Holljes, who wrote the song, says that it was inspired by the deaths of a close friend and a mentor. "These people were wonderful parts of my life," says Holljes, who donned the top hat, dark garb and cane of Baron Samedi, a voodoo spirit of death and healing, for the clip. "For me, they're not resting in peace. They remain vivid, important influences in my life. They still move me, and, in so many ways, I'm still dancing with their spirits and the memories they left behind.

"The song reflects both my personal attitude toward dying but also how I want to remember the people I love who have passed on."