Over the past five years American Gun has racked up a years’ worth of shows throughout the Southeast, traveling to any dive that will have them and broadcasting their own unique spin on rock and roll while attempting to (and most often succeeding) connect with fans on a personal level. They also have a pretty darn good time themselves in the process of all the madness.

Laudatory reviews followed the bands’ previous releases of their three full-lengths, 2006’s Dark Southern Hearts, The Means & the Machine in 2008 and Devil Showed Me His Hand in 2009, drawing on such talents as John Morand (Craker, Sparklehorse), Chris Stamey (Whiskeytown, Yo La Tengo), and lap steel guitar legend Al Perkins (The Flying Burrito Brothers). In the past few years the band has received attention from a variety of smaller record labels and distributors. Their songs have been featured on a number of indie compilations, PBS’s Roadtrip Nation, The Mountain Dew X-Games and ESPN2’s Bass: The Movie. And they have opened for such contemporaries as Lucero, Drivin’ N Cryin’, Avett Brothers, Jason Isbell, The Bottle Rockets, Shooter Jennings, Robbie Fulks, and others.

Initially inspired by the rough and tumble alternative country of artists like Lucero, Steve Earle, and Uncle Tupelo, the band quickly hit upon its own brand of rambunctious, barn-burning rock n’ roll. And while that is still very much a part of what they do, the past year has seen the group morph into a more muscular and electric force, taking cues as much from Social Distortion, The Hold Steady and Oasis as from their twangy roots.

Excited to document the new sound and direction, the band spent the summer of 2010 in pre-production at Jangly Records in Columbia, South Carolina with producer Paul Bodamer before entering Mitch Easter’s Fidelitorium Studio to record their fourth full-length, Therapy. In addition to being a sonic breath of fresh air, the new record also features some of the most powerful and brutally honest songwriting to date. Tales of love and heartbreak in a lonely city share the stage with the troubles and travails of a working rock band, painting as vivid a portrait of the band’s current state as the music itself.

Therapy will be released on Jangly Records in May 2011.

www.americangun.net
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