(*both laugh*) Episode 51: Sarah Shook!!

This is an episode that I've been looking forward to since before (*both laugh*) was even an idea for a show. I was introduced to Sarah Shook's music when their debut album, Sidelong, was rereleased by Bloodshot Records back in 2017 (it had initially been self-released by their band, Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, several years prior but I was waaaay out of the loop at that point). I found Sidelong to be an interesting listen; it felt like it ran a real throwback country-and-western vibe through a little bit of a modern roadhouse filter. It certainly wasn't like much else I listened to at the time, and Sidelong and its follow-up, 2018's Years, even stood out amongst the large quantity of Bloodshot artists I'd been listening to for a long time (Cory Branan, Scott H. Biram, Murder By Death, Lydia Loveless, etc). 

The Disarmers went into the studio in California to record their third album in early 2020, just as the world was on the cusp of shutting down for the foreseeable future. Label issues and supply chain issues and inability to tour issues got in the way got in the way, as they're wont to do. Fast forward to 2022 and Sarah Shook is on the cusp of releasing their third album. It's called Nightroamer and it's on a new label (Thirty Tigers) and it's really, REALLY good. Fans of Sarah Shook and the Disarmers will certainly find plenty of recognizable sounds, but there are left turns and even-further-left turns and some new and different subject matter. All of that results in an immensely compelling listen, easily their best output to date.

We caught up with Sarah to talk at length about the new album; from finishing the recording roughly a week before the pandemic became "a thing" in the States, to the obvious label issues, to the choice of when to actually release it to the world. We also talked about some of the subject matter; parts of the album were written after Shook got sober, and obviously created a very different writing process for them this time around. Perhaps most compellingly, we talked about their increasing involvement as a vocal force to be reckoned with, advocating for the elevating of queer and non-white voices in the country music world. Oh, and we talked about their growing up in strictly religious household and teaching themselves to play guitar and write songs in spite of having no popular music frame of reference, a concept that is truly mind-boggling to me.

Nightroamer is due out February 18th. Pre-orders are still available here: https://www.disarmers.com/store/Music-c23349544

You can also check out the Disarmers' videos and live performances and more on their YouTube page here: https://www.youtube.com/c/SarahShooktheDisarmers/videos

(*both laughs*) theme song is an excerpt from [laughs] track "Hurts To Laugh." © KALI MASI 2021 ℗ Take This To Heart Records 2021