5 things to know about Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, one of the Triangle's most exciting acts
For years, many Triangle country fans have bemoaned the fate of their beloved music genre. They've eagerly awaited a new traditionalist movement to begin, something akin to the era found within the mid-1980s, when the arrival of artists like Randy Travis and Ricky Skaggs caused program directors at country radio to shakeup their playlists.
Here's the good news: Sarah Shook & the Disarmers are one of the most exciting acts to have broken out of the Triangle music scene in quite some time, combining elements of classic country and punk rock in a way that makes one wonder if this is what the Sex Pistols would have sounded like if fronted by Johnny Paycheck.
They'll play at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro April 6 to kick off their tour and celebrate the same-day release of "Years," their latest album.
The bad news? Americana formats have been much quicker to embrace Shook than country music.
But after multiple appearances at the 2018 SXSW Music Festival last month, Shook and her band landed on many post-fest lists for best performances found at this year's blowout. In other words, Shook and her band may not stick around for long.
Whether you've been a dedicated follower of Shook since her early days of playing The Cave in Chapel Hill — where she still bartends one or two nights a week, when not touring — or have only recently discovered her, here are five things to know about the phenomenal singer-songwriter.
1. She's an innovator.
With the release of "Years," Shook cements her place among the top trailblazers in Americana. Alongside such names as Margo Price, Nikki Lane and Alynda Segarra (of Hurray for the Riff Raff), it would be easy — and lazy — to list the group as just "female innovators," but there's really no need when women are arguably the largest group of performers within the roots music world to push the envelope in any significant way.
While too many of Shook's male counterparts seem content to play it safe, Shook's new record finds the front woman exploring what it means to be an outlaw in 2018, as well as a musical rebel in an industry that makes it nearly impossible for female artists to hear their points of view on radio waves.
2. Her lyrics are raw.
When she sings about honky-tonks, these aren't the neon-lit bars you hear about in your typical commercial country song of today, and it doesn't sound like life is a nonstop party being had by everyone there. These are hard drinking songs, though the type that would somehow sound equally natural on either a Merle Haggard hits collection or an Elliot Smith album.
These new tracks on "Years" are great examples of songs long fallen out of fashion, those that used to rule country radio: the "tear in my beer" ballad that one usually sings alone. "I need this (expletive) like I need another hole in the head," she sings in the song "New Ways to Fail." Who hasn't spent a night saying that before?
3. North Carolina was an acquired taste.
Although she had spent much of her life moving from city to city with her family, when they first arrived in North Carolina in 2005, the then-19-year-old Shook didn't fall in love with the state at first sight. In 2016, she told Unsweetened Magazine, "(We) finally landed in Garner, NC, in July of 2005. That place is a hellhole. ... Moving to North Carolina was just about the last thing I wanted to do."
4. But now it's home, and she loves it.
Now 32, she is a single mother who got divorced after a brief marriage. Now, she's settled in Pittsboro, where the unique blend of a rural pace of life within a progressive community is more to her liking. She told Unsweetened, "I’ve moved more times than I can count, and this is the first place I’ve lived where I’ve been able to put down roots for myself. The first home I’ve been able to choose for myself. I live in a little trailer in the middle of the woods, and I’ll live here til the day I die. It’s heaven. And I got to pick it out."
5. She speaks her mind.
In only a short amount of time, Shook has become known as one of the more politically active performers in the Triangle. She tells Unsweetened she's a "vegan, bisexual, atheist, civil rights activist." She and Erika Libero, who she calls her activism partner, have brought to life ideas that fit needs within the Triangle LGBTQ community. When the infamous House Bill 2 passed into law, they quickly financed a campaign through crowdfunding that allowed the pair to design, print, and distribute "Safe Space" stickers to businesses that identified as havens from abuse.
Another project has been Manifest, a two-night music festival that celebrated its second anniversary this past October. Spread across three Chapel Hill music venues, the fest is a chance for area performers who identify as either female or members of the LGBTQ community an opportunity for visibility and representation in the Triangle music scene.
Details
Who: Sarah Shook & the Disarmers with Spider Bags
When: 9 p.m. April 6
Where: Cat's Cradle, 300 E. Main St., Carrboro
Cost: $12 in advance, $14 day of show
Info: 919-967-9053 or CatsCradle.com
Elsewhere: They will play at Charlotte's Neighborhood Theatre April 7.
This story was originally published April 6, 2018 at 6:15 AM with the headline "5 things to know about Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, one of the Triangle's most exciting acts."