Ninja Gun and their record Restless Rubes is rapidly becoming my favorite roots release of this year. It’s great to see younger artists from the South mixing their influences from the country and rock worlds, whether it be Bobby Bare Jr. or Drag The River. Ninja Gun hail from Valdosta, GA, but have had most of their early success playing a lot of shows in Gainesville, FL. The home of Tom Petty and No Idea Records seems to be just the type of town that would take to the Jonathan Coody and the rest of Ninja Gun.


When they push the power-pop pedal to the floor on tracks like “Red State Blues” and the title track, you can almost see the beer bottles rising into the air and the whole bar singing along. While it’s a great record to lift a cold beverage to, it’s not all beer drinking hollering on Restless Rubes. There are more pastoral back porch moments, like the childhood nostalgia of “Front Yard Screamers”, to keep things honest, but Ninja Gun seem to be at the strongest when they are getting in touch with their inner Superdrag. If you never travel far without a little Big Star on hand, you may want to take these Restless Rubes in for a spell.

Ninja Gun
Suburban Home Records

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