Dark And Bloody Ground by The Shooting Gallery

You could say we have a Country Soul and a Rock and Roll heart.

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Reviews of "Dark and Bloody Ground"

Just like Donnie and Marie Osmond, the Shooting Gallery is a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll.

On "Dark and Bloody Ground," the band recruits some of Louisville's finest roots rock talent, including Ian Thomas (Satchel's Pawn Shop), Steve Ferguson (NRBQ), Catherine Irwin (Freakwater) and Wink O'Bannon (Bodeco), to create a solid and swinging debut record.

From start to finish, "Dark and Bloody Ground," toes the line of country rock, never quite descending into campy backwoods stomps that mar other Americana records.

The full swagger of honky tonk bravado shines through on "The Desert Song," in which John Ashley sings, "I drank my share of straight Kentucky bourbon/Never paid no mind to a preacher's sermon," over an acoustic shuffler.

Ashley's vocals run the spectrum from warm and reserved on the soft lamentation "The Cross She Wears" to a full-throttle whiskey roar on "Northbound Train."

By Joshua Hammann

www.velocityweekly.com

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Not much is black and white in The Shooting Gallery's world. It's more blood red and purple bruises, with a little amber left over at the bottom of a shot glass. And that hole in your chest? It's where your heart used to be.

"Dark and Bloody Ground" mixes anger and regret with cantankerous rock 'n' roll and hard country. It all comes together in John Ashley's open wound of a voice; he sings as if every wrong has been done to him at least twice.

At its best, this strong debut references viciously drunk Jerry Lee Lewis, the Stones' decadent period, a little Stooges and late-1950s country. The material gets a little weak in places, especially on the straight country stuff, but when everything clicks, this is a vibrant, scary ride.

Jeffrey Lee Puckett, Courier-Journal Critic

http://www.louisvillescene.com/music/music.html

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The Shooting Gallery would be the perfect opening band in the "Rawhide" scene of "The Blues Brothers." As the rip through their Cow Punk style of their debut album, Dark and Bloody Ground, you can almost smell the cigarette smoke and see the chicken wire.

These local boys are not easily categorized, but fit most comfortably in Alt Country. They follow the trail of Johnny Cash's storytelling on songs like "Hell to Pay" and "Defrost," and the wonderful "Tiny Incisions" has the flow and twang of vintage George Jones.

The music is appropriately distorted and loose and singer John Ashley's voice has that whiskey-marinated quality that adds to the atmosphere. At times you may wish Ashley was a little closer to the right notes, but after a few listens through the CD you won't notice or won't care.

A few songs on "Dark and Bloody Ground" stray in other directions, like the driving instrumental "Ohio River Sludge" or the frantic blues of "Northbound Train." But the Shooting Gallery most hit the mark when dealing songs of rebels, loners and scorned love and they are usually right on target.

By Kory Wilcoxson - Louisville Music News

http://www.louisvillemusic.com/lmn/lmhdr.php?thisid=3&thisstory=2026

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