THE TAKERS
"Taker Easy" | Suburban Home Records (SH143-2)| LP/CD
Written by: Christer Davidsson | Posted: October 11th, 2009

"I've got one hand on the bottle / Got one foot in the grave / I had better judgement / But I threw it all away", whines Devon Stuart, vocalist and guitarist of Gainesville, Florida's The Takers. The chorus of "I Threw It All Away" says a lot about whet we've got here - a good 'ol outlaw country record. I've been listening to alternative country for quite some time now and I usually don't like this kind of seventies-sounding truck stop honky-tonk, but The Takers manages to grab my attention and keep it set throughout the album. Lyrically, all the outlaw country clichés are there, including barroom fights, lonely nights, heartbreak, too much Jack Daniel's and not enough Jack Daniel's. But even though it's all been done a hundred times before, The Takers gets away with it. These guys know how to write quality country anthems with bite, something rarely seen in the watered-down mainstream "country-music" of this day and age. For a complete listening-experience, I suggest you pick up some chewing-tobacco and a bottle of whiskey on your way home from the record-store. Hats off to The Takers for doing what they like and for reclaiming a long lost genre.

Record Nerd Notes:
I don't have any numbers for this one yet, but at least some of the vinyl will be beer-colored, he he...

The Takers | Suburban Home Records