The Yawpers
American Man
Release Date: Oct 30, 2015
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Blues-Rock, Punk Blues, Alternative Country-Rock, Roots Rock
Record label: Bloodshot
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Album Review: American Man by The Yawpers
Very Good, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
It only takes about 90 seconds into the opening track of the Yawpers’ sophomore release to hear the disparate elements that make them one of the most intense and interesting rocking trios in American roots music. The song “Doing it Right” kicks off with skeletal acoustic guitar that gradually sounds like an electric one as the song explodes with a second similarly overdriving unplugged guitar all pushed by crashing drums and propelled by the dynamic vocals of Nat Cook. Part blues, part rock, part folk, all slathered with early 80s punk attitude and some of the most over caffeinated playing you’ll hear this side of Reverend Peyton’s band.
Based on rating 7/10
If Bruce Springsteen could make bitterness and a loss of hope anthemic, he'd be writing songs like Nate Cook, the leader of Colorado trio the Yawpers. On the Yawpers' first full-length album, 2015's American Man, Cook's songs are Americana in the truest sense of the word, full of rugged individualists and widescreen backdrops, but there's a lot of cynicism and defeat in his perspective on American life, and even when his characters confidently declare they want to get away, the weariness audible in the edges of Cook's performances suggests they have a small chance of ever crossing the border into anything better. But Cook spins his tales with passion, force, and unpretentious smarts, and the band explodes like a string of firecrackers, with Cook and Jesse Parmet wailing hard on acoustic guitars that have been cranked up loud enough to send their sound into neighboring states, and drummer Noah Shomberg beating out the rhythms with a lean but unrelenting ferocity.
Based on rating 3/5
Cracking second LP from Denver punk-roots dudes. Lately there’s been a surge of bands summoning punked-up, rootsy blues devils. The kind of groups looking to Son House over Stevie Ray Vaughan, dirty fuzz over shiny solos.. ADVERTISING inRead invented by Teads.
Based on rating 6/10
On their debut LP, the Yawpers attempted to capture the same grit, vigour and knack for storytelling that helped artists like Alejandro Escovedo, Steve Earle and Los Lobos shape what would later become known as alt country. On their sophomore LP, American Man, the Denver trio once again stay close to this formula, infusing the album's dozen dusty rockers with energy and gusto. Belting out over two acoustic guitars and a drum set, the Yawpers rely heavily on blocky dynamics and Nate Cook's raspy, whiskey-soaked howl to create the album's swelling drama.
Opinion: Excellent
Like Walt Whitman, the punk rock poet that gave inspiration to their name, Colorado’s The Yawpers are destined to shake up their genre for years to come. Their opening salvo, American Man, is a blender full of distorted punk rock guitars, Americana boot stomping and plenty of U.S.-forged, dirt and grease-caked rock ‘n’ roll. Drawing obvious comparisons to folks like Jason and The Scorchers, Lucero and Scott H.
'American Man'
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