Blackfoot Gypsies’ influences are woven into the Nashville quartet’s Harley-denim-and-paisley-hippie glamware — everything from The Rolling Stones’ Garage Blues roots to the Faces’ ale-soaked bluster to The Black Crowes’ Southern-fried revivalism. But the band’s guitar/drums origin also exhibits hints of the Black Keys/White Stripes brand of spartan translations of the same general form. The recent expansion of Blackfoot Gypsies from two pieces to four has naturally elevated the band’s sound to a raucous sonic hurricane of Category 5 intensity, which really is just an upgrade from the Category 3 of the original duo.
The Gypsies formed in 2010 when guitarist/vocalist Matthew Paige and drummer Zach Murphy pooled their talents to create an explosive confluence of Southern Rock, Punk, Soul, Americana and Country. Although they utilized bassists in the studio for the band’s first two EPs, 2010’s Blackfoot Gypsies and 2011’s Dandee Cheeseball, and debut full-length, 2012’s On the Loose, they typically played live dates as a two-piece.
Early in 2015, the band signed a contract with Plowboy Records, co-founded by Eddy Arnold’s grandson Shannon Pollard. The Gypsies’ first release for the label, Handle It, came out four months later and showcased its newly expanded presentation, with bassist Dylan Whitlow and harmonica wizard Ollie “Dogg” Horton joining as permanent members.
The Gypsies’ latest album, the recently released and self-produced To the Top, is a swaggering, freewheeling collection of chugging, chest-thumping, fist-pumping howlers and oddly nuanced Country and Swing numbers that play up the band’s affinity for The Replacements’ back-on-its-heels ferocity, as well as Paul Westerberg’s reflective introspection.
But forget the influences and reference points and genre tags — Blackfoot Gypsies reminds us, at the upper registers of aural tolerance, that Rock & Roll wasn’t intended to be perfectly crafted, produced and executed: It was meant to be played by sweating, staggering drunks in front of sweating, staggering drunks for the best possible time to be had by all. Thank God and the devil for Blackfoot Gypsies.
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This article appears in Jul 19-26, 2017.
