American Gun – The Means And The Machine

On their second album, South Carolina’s American Gun sift Uncle Tupelo, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen through a filter of southern gothic storytelling and rock ‘n’ roll energy, coming out with a batch of pure, stripped-down twang ‘n’ roll. Frontmen Todd Mathis and Donald Merckle trade songs throughout; Mathis offers up the drawling “Horses” and the appropriately guitar-heavy “Neil Young Mood”, while Merckle keeps to a tightly focused pop-rock sound on “Fight Song” and “Drunk Girls”. Guests including Chris Stamey, who mixed the album and added keyboards, and Al Perkins on lap and pedal steel provide depth and texture without changing the guts of the band’s sound. Add in covers of a Lucero song and the traditional “Moonshiner”, and you have both a crisp alt-country machine and the means to deliver the goods.