As the frontwoman for North Carolina’s Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, singer/songwriter Sarah Shook offers up a full-bodied combination of the sound of vintage outlaw country — with lyrics that waver between defiance and honest introspection — and the fire of punk rock. Having already attached her name to two previous backing bands (the Devil, who broke up in 2013 and the Dirty Hand, who lasted barely a year) and logging hundreds of gigs with only a self-released EP to show for it, Shook earned the admiration of producer Ian Schreier, who helped the Disarmers take shape in 2015. The group’s independent debut, Sidelong, soon found a home with Chicago’s Bloodshot Records, which re-released it in 2017 to critical acclaim, setting the table for their 2018 follow-up Years.
Shook was born in Rochester, New York in 1985. She was raised in a deeply religious household, home schooled, and only allowed to listen to classical or Christian praise music as she grew up. Despite these restrictions, Shook taught herself to play guitar in high school and began writing songs. She and her family moved frequently during her childhood, and when she was 19, they settled in Garner, North Carolina, a town Shook openly disliked. A brief marriage left her with a son, and she relocated to Pittsboro, North Carolina, a half-hour drive from Chapel Hill, where she felt much more at home. In 2010, she put together her first band, Sarah Shook & the Devil, who issued an EP in 2013, Seven. (The EP was given a belated vinyl-only American release in 2020.) By the end of 2013, that band had split, and Shook & the Devil guitarist Eric Peterson started over with the group Sarah Shook & the Dirty Hand, a stopgap project that played live around the Chapel Hill area. Meanwhile, Shook had found a fan in producer and engineer Ian Schreier, who was eager to make a record with her. In 2015, she and Peterson assembled a new band to record with Schreier, which also included Aaron Olivia on bass, Phil Sullivan on pedal steel, and John Howie, Jr. (who is also Shook’s partner) on drums. The new combo, dubbed the Disarmers, cut their debut album live in the studio with Schreier at the controls. Sidelong was self-released in late 2015, and the band toured as much as Shook’s commitments as a working mother would permit. The album received positive reviews for Shook’s hard-edged tales of empty bottles and broken hearts, and she landed a deal with Chicago’s well-established “insurgent country” label Bloodshot Records. Bloodshot gave Sidelong a nationwide reissue in 2017, and in April 2018, they dropped the second Disarmers’ album, Years.
The punk-infused and honky-tonk heavy outfit from North Carolina called Sarah Shook and the Disarmers have let it be known that February 18th will be the delivery date for their highly-anticipated 3rd album called Nightroamer. Produced by long-time Dwight Yoakam producer and guitar player Pete Anderson, Nightroamer is said to be a slightly more expansive work compared to Sarah Shook’s previous albums. It also brings Shook full circle in some respects, since one of her early signature songs is called “Dwight Yoakam.”
“I think this record is different than ones we’ve done in the past,” she says. “It feels every bit as expansive as I wanted it to feel. I didn’t want there to be a shocking, jarring difference, but I definitely wanted it to feel like things are opening up. It’s a bigger feeling experience.”
Joining Shook on the album will be the nucleus of the Disarmers, which is Aaron Oliva on bass, and Sarah’s long-time right hand man, guitarist Eric Petersen who celebrated 11 years of playing with Shook this Halloween. Well-regarded steel player Adam “Ditch” Kurtz known for his work with American Aquarium and Joshua Ray Walker is also listed as a member of The Disarmers, with steel guitarist Phil Sullivan playing on the new record, as well as Skip Edwards on Organ. “After the initial writing is done, it’s all collaborative with the band,” Shook says. “There’s no hierarchy. I think that’s part of what gives us a little bit of magic: We all have deep admiration for each other.”
The album comes after some delay due to The Disarmers being swept up in the recent disillusion of Bloodshot Records. Luckily, Thirty Tigers was there to sweep in and sign the band, seeing them for what they are, which is one of the premier bands in independent country that deserves support behind them.
As for what you can expect from Nightroamer, Sarah Shook says, “Where is the handbook for relationships that isn’t just how to keep your man around for 20 years? Where is the offbeat situational relationship handbook? I feel like a lot of what I write is that––and most of the time, I don’t have the answers. I’m just asking the questions that we’re all asking.”
The last time Sarah Shook released an album (2018’s Years), it became the Saving Country Music Album of the Year. That would make Nightroamer one to make sure it’s on your radar. Her magnificent aptitude for fetching melodies brought to stories from the failing side of life satisfies a deep appetite for music we never knew we had until she came along, and leaves one memorably more fulfilled than your ordinary music experience to the point of being deemed essential.
REF: SavingCountryMusic.com
Sacramento’s K-ZAP 93.3 FM plays Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. All part of 50 years of Rock, Blues and More, 24-7 on our station’s stream at K-ZAP.ORG/LISTEN/
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