“Sidelong rides in the middle front of a ‘77 Buick Riviera, before seatbelts, half joy ride and half escape. Rowdy punk rock in-solence to the right, a bottle in a bag; organic three chords and the truth frankness to the left – one eye in the rearview mirror and one eye on the rough road ahead. It’s a hell of a trip.
North Carolina’s Sarah Shook sings with a conviction and hard honesty sorely missing in much of today’s Americana landscape.
Always passionate, at times profane, Sarah stalks/walks the line between vulnerable and menacing, her voice strong and uneasy, country classic but with contemporary, earthy tension. Writing with blunt urgency – so refreshing these days it’s almost start-ling – Sarah’s lyrics are in turn smart, funny, mean, and above all, uncompromising. Sly turns of phrase so spot on they feel as true as a hymn. Anger that’s as confrontational as it is concise. Humor that’s as wry and resigned as a park bench prophet.

Meanwhile, the Disarmers hit all the sweet spots from Nash-ville’s Lower Broad to Bakersfield and take Sarah’s unflinching tales out for some late-night kicks. At times it’s as simple and muscular as Luther Perkins’ boom-chicka-boom or as downtown as Johnny Thunders. From the indie-rock snarl in ‘Heal Me’ to the big sky horizon of a Cormac McCarthy western in ‘No Name,’ the Disarmers keep it in the pocket, tight and tough.

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers have been covered by the likes of No Depression, Independent Weekly, and Rolling Stone, with the latter including the group in their July 2016 list of “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know..”

Sidelong is a record that will make you sit up and notice. This is a new voice for a new country."