Sidelong

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 startling - Sarah's lyrics are in turn smart, funny, mean, and above all, uncompromising. Meanwhile, the **Disarmers** hit all the sweet spots from Nashville'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. *'Sidelong'* is a record that will make you sit up and notice. This is a new voice for a new country.