Terrence and the Straight Shooters w/ The Bottom Rung

Baltimore-based Terrence & the Straight Shooters first gained attention for spare, alt-country gems, such as 2020’s “Just Like Orphans” or 2018’s “My Country ‘Tis of Me.” It’s as if fellow East Coaster Dougie Poole and Terence & the Straight Shooters were stubbornly leading a Mid-Atlantic strain of country revival, bringing East a trail blazed by Warren Zevon: rejecting sentimentalism and fashioning new sonic approaches within a rich, if often hidebound, tradition.

A rotating cast of musicians and backup vocalists bring these songs to life, while providing an idiosyncratic and mercurial strain. If the song’s emotional expression requires lap steel, or something called, according to one release, "umami drums," Terrence will throw that into a mix. You can imagine Terrence rolling into town and assembling his Straight Shooters the way a seasoned vigilante assembles a posse in a frontier saloon. On other songs, Terrence, the lone ranger, plays all the instruments himself.

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