#sarah shook and the disarmers
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Sarah Shook and the Disarmers — Revelations (Abeyance/Thirty Tigers)
Photo by Brett Villena
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“I built my life on the edge of a knife when nobody believed that I could,” rasps River Shook, the tough but tender leader of this kicking cowpunk band. The song is “You Don’t Get to Tell Me How to Feel,” a boot-stomping statement of purpose, as the guitars flare, the drums bolt upright like a scared horse, and Shook makes the case for constructing their own narrative in no uncertain terms.
Shook came of age in Bible belt America, forbidden as a child from any contact with secular music. Still these things have a way of back-ending. The artist learned the piano, then the guitar, then formed a series of bands under their birthname Sarah Shook; they switched to River a few years ago as a personal identifier but continue to record under the old name. Their music, however, remains sharp and unsentimental, punk in energy, country in its twang and sway. Move over Beyoncé, you’re not the only one pushing out the boundaries of what Americana can represent.
And so, Shook delivers gender inclusive busted romances in old-school juke joint style. Pedal steel flies through the jangling twang of “Backsliders” while an in-the-pocket country band keeps two-stepping time. There’s a cheating partner and a wounded one, just like in all the old songs, but the trick is neither one is a dude. “I’m a real piece of shit and you’re a vixen in a dress/I thought we was moving on/I was wrong I guess,” Shook cracks, out of the corner of their mouth, like Johnny Cash but different.
The very real pleasure of this collection of songs comes in how the love of tradition collides with raucous rule-breaking energy. You’ve got your outlaw country, sure, but did any of those guys write a song called “Motherfucker” and carry it off? Shook does.
Not every song stomps. Some are plaintive and yearning, like the lovely “Jane Doe,” others full of anthemic slow-rocking swirl like “Nightingale.” But all insist on direct emotional engagement and brutal honesty and acceptance of a very specific point of view. River Shook is definitely not your grandma’s idea of a country powerhouse, but they are one all the same.
Jennifer Kelly
#sarah shook and the disarmers#revelations#abeyance#thirty tigers#jennifer kelly#albumreview#dusted magazine#river shook#country#cowpunk
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Flat Duo Jets Founder Dexter Romweber Dies at 57
- “He wasn’t a rock ‘n’ roll musician, he WAS rock ‘n’ roll inside and out,” Jack White says
Dexter Romweber, the co-founder and leader of North Carolina’s Flat Duo Jets, died Feb. 16 of apparent natural causes, his family said.
Romweber was 57 and his family remembered him as a “singer, guitarist, artist and bon vivant … one of the most acclaimed artists of the roots-rock underground.”
Jack White concurred.
“He wasn’t a rock ‘n’ roll musician, he WAS rock ‘n’ roll inside and out, without even having to try, he couldn’t help himself,” White said in a statement.
“People toss that around a lot, but in Dex’s case it was actually true. To call him punk would be like calling the Great Pyramid a sand castle.”
Sarah Shook eulogized Romweber as a singular “iconoclast” with “an intrinsic understanding of the essence of rock ‘n’ roll and a mind for music nobody else could fathom much less replicate.”
Romweber made more than one-dozen album between the Jets and subsequent musical pairings. His most recent solo album, Good Thing Goin’, arrived in 2023.
Romweber was “responsible for me playing guitar,” Cat Power said.
“I cannot comprehend a world without you, Dexter,” she wrote on social media.
2/18/24
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My dad’s current favorite band is Sarah Shook & the Disarmers.
We have seen them live several times, and they always put on a great show.
They just released a new album, and it’s so incredibly good. They are starting to sell out shows, and get more recognition finally (which is entirely well-deserved!).
Anyway, my dad’s birthday was recently, so I pre-ordered him the band’s new record (on vinyl). In the notes section of my order, I put something about how much my whole family loves the band, and how I was pre-ordering the record to surprise my dad for his birthday.
(I like to leave nice little notes in my music orders, just in case someone sees them, and also because I love when people do that when they buy my record - which is admittedly not very often!)
Well… someone from the band contacted me pretty quickly and asked if I’d like River (the band’s frontperson) to sign the record for my dad- no extra charge or anything, but they thought it might make it more special for his birthday!
He got the signed record in the mail last week, and he’s so so happy.
Such a nice thing for the band to do… really. So much ✨✨mensch energy✨✨
Anyway, check out their new album, and see them live if you get the chance!
Here’s a video of my parents being dorks in the front row at the last Sarah Shook & the Disarmers show we went to:
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Playing here in Rochester NY on the 8th!
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When you see me on the street
You're just glad it ain't you dyin' out in the cold on dead man's curve
You tell yourself little white lies look me dead in my black eye
And say to me I got what I deserved
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SXSW 2023—FREQShots: Day Five [Saturday, 3/18/2023]
By Ben Cooper
Gypsy Mitchell @ C-Boys Heart & Soul
Tamzene @ Cedar Street Courtyard
Sarah Shook & The Disarmers @ C-Boys Heart & Soul
Geexella @ Swan Dive
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why do the gays want taylor swift so badly we already have a they/them with a mullet swilling whiskey and singing about how a cowboy stole their girl
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#sarah shook#sarah shook and the disarmers#country music#alternative country#queer country#2010s#Spotify
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One more one night stand
One more upper in my hand
One more make it a double
One more bridge to burn
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The War on Drugs, Patti Smith and Her Band, Taj Mahal, Samantha Fish & Sarah Shook and the Disarmers – XPoNential Festival (Day 1) – Wiggins Park – Camden, NJ – September 16, 2022
Photos by Jay S. Jacobs © 2022
#The War on Drugs#Patti Smith and Her Band#Taj Mahal#Samantha Fish#Sarah Shook and the Disarmers#2022#Concert Photos#XPoNential Festival#Freedom Mortgage Pavilion#Wiggins Park#Camden#Jay S. Jacobs
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everytime one of you mentions sarah snook (succession girlboss i think?) i think you're talking about sarah shook (epic nonbinary country singer)
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Sara Shook and the Disarmers at the Hangar in Troy Nov 2022
early edition
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I’m fixin’ to dry out tomorrow
But for now the only thing keepin’ my chin up is this bottle
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