Sarah Shook and the Disarmers
I'm not a huge fan of most country music. Usually the rhythms and tones aren't really my thing. But that said, country music is one of the basic building blocks of American popular music, along with blues, gospel and jazz. Everything is related if you go back far enough. Country rhythms pop up in Chuck Berry tunes. Ray Charles reworked country standards into soul ones. The father of country music, Jimmie Rogers, was influenced by blues artists. He was also known as a white bluesman. Rogers' yodeling later influenced blues titan Howling Wolf. Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley were influenced by black rock-n-roll and blues musicians. And on and on. One thing that the best forms of music share regardless of genre is emotional honesty. I first heard about Sarah Shook in a recent NYT review. I was intrigued enough to give her music a listen. I was happy I did. Now her upstate New York by way of North Carolina warbly alto voice may not be to everyone's taste. But I like her voice a lot. She is to me a pretty engaging singer. And she's not bad as a guitarist. The music she's creating doesn't require her or the other guitarists in her band to fly up and down the fingerboard constantly or show off everything that they know in under two minutes. Sometimes knowing what not to play and where to leave space for the vocals and other instruments is just as important as filling up the sonic voids. The guitar solos, when they occur, are usually short and to the point.
Shook's ability lies in songwriting and interpretation as far as I am concerned. She is an excellent example of someone who plays for the song. As a self-described left-wing bisexual vegan atheist civil rights activist working in a genre that has become more associated with reactionary politics, Shook shows, as many musicians of all races, both genders and various sexualities have done before her, that what matters is the emotion that a person puts forth in their music, not the singer's politics or other personal characteristics.
Shook's song "Dwight Yoakam" is a bluesy ode to a lost lover. That the lover is female doesn't really change the emotions that any listener might feel. Anyone who's been thru some stuff might be able to relate. Sonically Shook's voice and arrangements hearken back to early fifties country from Sun Records as well as more than a few nods to Bakersfield luminaries such as Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and well Dwight Yoakam. This is not your stereotypical cloying Nashville stuff. It's rougher, bassier and with a lot more immediacy and attitude.This is country that is not that far removed from early rock-n-roll and blues. The women in Sarah Shook's songs like to drink, like to mess around, and have seen a few things in life. Some of the characters may not be that different from Shook herself. As stated, there aren't too many solos here that are going to knock your socks off. Whether that's by choice or from ability I lack the ability to determine. But there are in my opinion more than a few songs that the listener will remember. And I think that counts for so much more than yet another guitarist going "wee-wee-wee" as fast and as loud as they can. Like Steve Earle, Shook writes songs that hit you in the gut. If you think you don't like what you think of as modern country you might want to give her re-released debut album "Sidelong" a listen to see if you're missing something. If you enjoy the tougher, bluesier sides of country music then you should definitely purchase the album. Shook is going forward and respecting the past all at the same time.
Dwight Yoakam Nothing Feels Right But Doing Wrong
Shotgun Betty The Nail
The Things We Were Taught Are Too Small
Hurt Heal Me
