Where has 500 Miles To Memphis been all my life and why haven’t I been hearing about them everywhere? Especially with their debut album recently released by Deep Elm Records? This Cincinnati-based band’s debut full-length Sunshine In A Shot Glass is simply fucking amazing. Review over.
But seriously, this album is filled with the sort of bittersweet country punk that both punks and rednecks can’t help but love. Seriously. It’s instrumentally ambitious but never approaches wankery as fiddles, slide guitar, pedal steel, organs, and banjos sit alongside churning guitar-bass-drums arrangements.
Now when an album is this good (and Sunshine In A Shot Glass is) I hesitate to make easy comparisons but just to give you an idea 500 Miles To Memphis sounds sorta like Lucero but with a little more twang, bigger breakdowns, and less gravelly vocals; maybe like Lucero vs. Attack In Black vs. Bill Monroe. Are you intrigued yet? It is whiskey-soaked and twangy bluegrass and punk infused country rock.
Honestly, Sunshine In A Shot Glass is instantly captivating and needs no time to grow; tender at times and boiling lava hot at others. It is rare (if not almost impossible) that an album can be well-suited for both line-dancing and mosh pits, but somehow this one is. Near perfect.
MP3 | 500 Miles To Memphis – All My Friends Are Crazy Sunshine In A Shot Glass
MP3 | 500 Miles To Memphis – Keep It Together Sunshine In A Shot Glass
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i got 500 miles probably two years ago from a friend who frequented cincinatti and was aware of them in the bar scene….love em!