NASHVILLE SCENE (Nashville weekly) – Critic’s Pick: The Bohannons are one of Chattanooga’s finest exports, who make heavy rock ’n’ roll that’s equal parts Mötorhead and Neil Young, with lead guitar chops that rival both.
http://nashvillescene.getn2.it/event/detail/1480107
ATLANTA EXAMINER (Atlanta A&E site) – Positive show preview with album art, video and related links.
The Bohannons bring some good old rock music to Atlanta
Tuesday is usually just another day that falls early in the week. It is not as popular as Wednesday or as despised as Monday. No one looks forward to Tuesday, they don’t make plans, the TV shows stink and no one has ever uttered the phrase “Thank God It’s Tuesday”. Well this Tuesday night you can throw all that thinking out the window because it is going to be a day to look forward to, as Chattanooga’s Bohannons are in town for a night of sweet music.
The Bohannons choice of venue for the evening will be Smith’s Olde Bar, and when they get through with it the upper room may never be the same. They are out on the road supporting their latest record Unaka Rising which consists of 10 tracks of raw unbridled emotion. Their music is a conglomeration of personal lyrics, psychedelic bluesy guitar riffs, thunderous rhythms and the right amount of country twang delivered as loud and rowdy as possible. The power of their albums easily transfers to the stage as their vicious guitars rip into the audience’s ears clearing out their heads to make room for nothing but the Bohannons’ music. Sharing the stage is the talented songwriter H.R. Gertner. His folk tinged Americana music is the perfect complement to the Bohannons, punk flavored Southern rock.
Adjust your schedule and fit the Bohannons’ in on Tuesday night. Get to Smith’s early, grab some food and cold beverages then head upstairs for a night of bad ass music. Who knows, maybe tomorrow you will hear some folks uttering the phrase, Thank God It’s Tuesday.
WHO: Bohannons & H.R. Gertner
WHERE: Smith’s Olde Bar
WHEN: Tuesday, November 6th
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-bohannons-bring-some-good-old-rock-music-to-atlanta?cid=rss
THE PULSE (Chattanooga weekly) – Positive Editors Picks show preview with band photo.
13th Annual All Hallow’s Eve Ball with The Bohannons, Eight Knives, How I Became The Bomb
The 13th Annual All Hallow’s Eve Ball has shaped up to be one of the best music line-ups yet with The Bohannons, Eight Knives and How I Became The Bomb. The Bohannons will be kicking off their Fall 2012 tour with this show, backing up the release of their newest recording Unaka Rising. The Bohannons have been getting rave reviews in respected music blogs and magazines around the country with Unka and it’s immediately evident why once you hear it. Eight Knives is a relatively new band, and have come on the scene strong this year. Having composed a solid repertoire of original music, taking it to the stages at JJ’s Bohemia and Track 29, the Knives have proven their live gig chops.
Nashville based How I Became The Bomb, has hit Chattanooga and garnered a local fan base since they formed in 2005. With tours taking them to SXSW, Bonnaroo, Spain and the UK, HIBTB continues to create great, pop-based music, with unexpected and fresh hooks.
Mix in the always entertaining and often elaborate costumes worn by the patrons and you have another great year of a Halloween tradition cherished by so many.
13th Annual All Hallow’s Eve Ball with The Bohannons, Eight Knives, How I Became The Bomb
Saturday, October 27th
8:00 p.m.
The Honest Pint – 35 Patten Parkway
http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/articles/13th-annual-all-hallows-eve-ball
TWISTED SOUTH RADIO (national quarterly music magazine Twisted South’s internet rado show) – Phone interview with Marty on Wed. Nov. 7thh at 9:15 pm eastern.
WUTC-FM RADIO – Marty Bohannon In-Studio w/ Richard Winham Thu Oct. 22 3pm eastern, 615 McCallie Avenue, Chattanooga, TN
THE AGIT READER (online music site) – “River Above” added to their hompage Daily Downloads feature on Oct. 25th http://www.agitreader.com/
HELLHOUND MUSIC (online music blog) – News posting (from press announcement) on tour with band photos, album art, “Goodbye Bill” download and related links. http://www.hellhoundmusic.com/the-bohannons-on-tour-in-support-of-the-recent-album-unaka-rising-free-river-above-mp3/
ARKANSAS ONLINE / TRI-LAKES EDITION (Arkansas daily) – Positive post with album art, band photo and “Goodbye Bill” mp3.
Bohannons Performance
HOT SPRINGS — The Bohannons and Lucero will perform at 8 p.m. Nov. 3 at Maxine’s, 700 Central Ave. The Bohannons, from Chattanooga, Tenn., are touring in support of their full-length album debut. Tickets are $17 in advance and $20 if purchased at the door. For more information, call (501) 321-0909.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/oct/18/weeks-events-tl/?f=trilakes
SEATTLE POST INTELLEGENCER
(Seattle daily) – Positive album review.
Music Review: The Bohannons – Unaka Rising
Southern rock music is undergoing an interesting revolution these days. It’s adding some punk attitude and a bit of grunge sound to the rock, blues, and country it has always had. The Bohannons, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, are a perfect example of what’s great about this new roots rock sound on their new release, Unaka Rising.
This is not music that invites you to listen passively. This is music that attacks and forces you to engage from the very first notes of “Goodbye Bill” to the last strains of “Ponchartrain.”
The lyrics delve into the rich mines of Southern mythology and are filled with the imagery of their native region. The title of the CD refers, in fact, to the Unaka region of Tennessee. But in The Bohannon’s music, that mythology and imagery is mixed with anger, paranoia, and political unease.
The sound here is anything but predictable. Yes, there are blues licks and high, lonesome, twangy sounds like the best of bluegrass, but there is also violently raucous guitar, emotionally charged vocals,more than a touch of metal, and above all else, rock and roll.
Stylistically, The Bohannons are often compared to Crazy Horse and Drive-By Truckers. But I hear strong similarities to The White Stripes and Drivin’ N Cryin’ as well.
Every song here is strong and it is hard to pick favorites. My favorite is probably “The River Above.” But “Goodbye Bill,” “The Ballad of Christian and Other,” “Cold Dead Hand,” and “Ponchartrain” are also standouts. Other listeners may well choose other favorites, and, indeed, upon further listening each song may well take its turn being my favorite.
Some people may hate this CD. The Bohannons do not make mainstream music, and they make a point of challenging the listener. Others are going to love it. Either way, no one is going to be left undecided. Personally, I love it and am already craving more.
If you like homegrown rock that defies the norm and demands a response, you owe it to yourself to give The Bohannons a listen. You just may find out that it’s exactly what you’ve been looking for.
Article Author: Rhetta Akamatsu
http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/Music-Review-The-Bohannons-Unaka-Rising-3894333.php
MY OLD KENTUCKY BLOG
(online music blog) – Positive post with album art, band photo and “Goodbye Bill” mp3.
Song : The Bohannons : Goodbye Bill
Tonight The Bohannons’ Unaka Rising jumped out of my speakers: A hard-hitting drum/guitar attack constantly clears a path for the message of “Goodbye Bill.” That passion got me looking at the band’s bio. Which made me realize the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based quintet is still far enough under the radar to be burning up bar stages in the deep South. Shit, there’s a lot of great music coming out of the Southeast these days.
As far as the Bohannons’ general sound goes, reference points include Dead Confederate and – get ready — hair-toss era Status Quo. The Bohannons are a pedal-to-the-metal conflagration of strands including Southern boogie, grunge, classic ‘70s hard rock, punk a la the Clash, the Pogues, and Billy Bragg.
What’s more – as if we needed it, the Bohannons write songs about more than the common love/drinking/loss topics. “Goodbye Bill,” for instance, is “an ode to martyred labor organizer Joe Hill.” But the music’s what always keeps – or doesn’t keep – me around, and I can’t resist the sort of Celtic riff driving “Tim Tim,” which was written about another relatively unusual subject – a cat. Gotta love it.
Anyone who’s really into rock should check the Bohannons out – the good news being that the band’s been straying further and further from Chattanooga, with at least three tours under its belt so far this year. You can download or get a physical copy of Unaka Rising at This is American Music.
http://www.myoldkentuckyblog.com/?p=35686
WHEN YOU MOTOR AWAY
(online music site) – Positive album review with album art, band photos, audio streams, video and related links.
REVIEW: The Bohannons – Unaka Rising
The Bohannons are a Chattanooga band that combines swamp boogie, hard blues, full-on glam rock, and punk — and it’s just as bracing and crazy as that sounds. If you’ve enjoyed some of the proud Southern rock varietals we’ve blogged about this year: The Alabama Shakes, The District Attorneys, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, Patterson Hood – this is something you will want to check out.
On Unaka Rising, they’re loud and way up front with shouted vocals, slashing electric guitars and a rhythm section that swings like crazy. The Bohannons consist of Nick Sterchi, Marty Bohannon, Matt Bohannon and Josh Beaver.
Here’s the lead track “Goodbye Bill”, available for free download:
They’re dipping into the Southern folk tradition, too… listen to Marty Bohannon describe the genesis of “Goodbye Bill”: “It’s an ode to martyred labor organizer Joe Hill approaching the 100th anniversary of his death. The words are from his last will, as well as from Ethel Raim and The Pennywhistlers’ song ‘Joe Hill’.”
And here you can stream “River Above”, a haunting hard rock track with guitars layered on top of guitars:
And here they are playing “Built A World”, a plaintive song of lost love as only the Bohannons can play such a thing – with a little bit of a ragtime feel and of course a scorching electric guitar solo:
The whole record is good, but I think the last two tracks are the highlights: “Ponchatrain”, a call-and-response, foreboding blues song about an oncoming storm and “In The End”, which races along at a punk rock pace and finishes this album by letting me know this band is just starting to shake things up.
Unaka Rising is out now on This Is American Music – produced by David Barbe and Drew Vandenberg
http://whenyoumotoraway.blogspot.com/2012/09/review-bohannons-unaka-rising.html
THE MAD MACKEREL
(UK online music blog) – Second Positive post with “River Above” mp3 and album art.
MM Shorts 241: More From The Bohannons
The Bohannons debut full release Unaka Rising has been one of those unexpected treats that makes having a music blog worthwhile. We called it Southern-fried glam boogie, and the album is a fabulous listen from start to finish. Here is another track from it, River Above.
Enjoy and buy the album here.
http://madmackerel.org/2012/10/14/mm-shorts-241-more-from-the-bohannons/
PLUG-IN MUSIC
(online music site) – Second news posting with band photo, tour dates and “River Above” download.
The Bohannons Announce Tour Dates In Support Of “Unaka Rising”
The Bohannons inhabit a musical universe that, while certainly drawing influence from all over, is firmly rooted in their Tennessee home. With their full-length debut album Unaka Rising, they are clearly taking their homegrown, handcrafted rock to a new level, and we think they’ve set the bar pretty damn high with this one. The album’s title references the Unaka province of East Tennessee and western North Carolina— “One of the finest areas in all the world,” according to singer/guitarist Marty Bohannon. The region has certainly fueled the Bohannons’ fire, providing endless stories and situations from which these songs draw. With a quiver of new material ready to follow up 2011’s stellar EP, Days of Echo, the Bohannons spent the better part of the last year tearing up the road between Chattanooga and Athens, GA where they recorded Unaka Rising at Chase Park Transduction, first with David Barbe and later Drew Vandenberg.
The Bohannons’ Unaka Rising is out now (through This Is American Music) in CD and Digital formats.
THE BOHANNONS’ 2012 FALL TOUR DATES
Oct. 27 The Honest Pint – Chattanooga, TN
Nov. 2 The 5 Spot – Nashville, TN w/ Shane Tutmarc, Little Bandit
Nov. 3 Maxine’s – Hot Springs National Park, AR w/ LUCERO
Nov. 6 Smith’s Olde Bar – Atlanta, GA
Nov. 7 New Earth Music Hall – Athens, GA w/ Lord Baltimore
Nov. 8 Radio Room – Greenville, SC
Nov. 9 The Wormhole – Savannah, GA
Nov. 10 Hummingbird Stage & Taproom – Macon, GA
http://www.pluginmusic.com/news/article/the-bohannons-announce-tour-dates-in-support-of-unaka-rising
MOVEMENT MAGAZINE
(online music site) – News post with “River Above” mp3, band photo, tour dates and positive press quotes.
http://movementnews.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-bohannons-on-tour-in-support-of.html
THE DADADA
(online music blog) – Positive posting with River Above download with album art, and related links.
Bohannons – “River Above”
from Unaka Rising
out now on This Is American Music
Dirty southern rock with an independent edge, Unaka Rising references the area of the same name straddling eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. They are currently touring Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina. Details of the tour found here.
http://thedadada.com/tag/bohannons/
WHEN YOU MOTOR AWAY
(online music site) – Second posting with River Above download with album art, tour dates and related links.
Free download and tour info – The Bohannons “River Above”
To further entice the undecided, I suppose, Chattanooga’s powerful Southern rockers The Bohannons have a gift for you:
And if you’re in the South, you’re in luck. They’ll be traversing their home state and working their way back via Arkansas and Georgia in November:
Oct. 27 The Honest Pint – Chattanooga, TN
Nov. 2 The 5 Spot – Nashville, TN w/ Shane Tutmarc, Little Bandit
Nov. 3 Maxine’s – Hot Springs National Park, AR w/ LUCERO
Nov. 6 Smith’s Olde Bar – Atlanta, GA
Nov. 7 New Earth Music Hall – Athens, GA w/ Lord Baltimore
Nov. 8 Radio Room – Greenville, SC
Nov. 9 The Wormhole – Savannah, GA
Nov. 10 Hummingbird Stage & Taproom – Macon, GA
In case you missed it, here’s our rave review. Out now on This Is American Music.
http://whenyoumotoraway.blogspot.com/2012/10/free-download-and-tour-info-bohannons.html
ROCK THOUGHT
(online music site) – “Goodbye Bill” link featured on their site.
http://rockthought.com/twitter-recap-september-2012
THREAT+CONSTANT
(online music site) – Positive album review with album art, and related links.
The Swinging Sounds of the Dying South: The Bohannons’ Dystopian Unaka Rising
Over the last five years, the American South became the setting du jour for serialized television shows about monsters and the end of the world. The inevitability of this marriage should come as no surprise. The ubiquity of vampires, zombies, and serial killers may be traced to a popular obsession with the supernatural and macabre that dates back at least to the late eighteenth century. The haunted American South’s many mysteries and transgressions aligned with this trajectory in the mid-twentieth century to spawn Southern Gothicism, tales of strange, broken, oddly beautiful people trying to keep it together below the Mason-Dixon.
And while not classics on par with To Kill a Mockingbird and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Dexter, True Blood, and The Walking Dead derive from this lineage (or drag it down, if you like). The grotesquery is less nuanced. The characters are obvious monsters as opposed to multidimensional people capable of monstrous acts. The existential and moral questions of high literature bow to the commercial needs of television drama and its viewers. But the dots between Faulkner and Daryl the redneck zombie hunter are, for better or worse, connectable. The common thread runs through the South and its relationship with the unknown, the off-kilter, and the ever-present threat of sweeping change. Strip away the werewolves, walkers, vamps, fangbangers, and freaks and the fact remains: the South is the perfect place to stage an apocalypse.
So it is that Chattanooga’s the Bohannons throw one of their own on their latest album, Unaka Rising. A melange of all our favorite rocks—hard, southern, punk, garage—Unaka Rising is ten stomping tracks that deconstruct and interrogate America through the Bohannons’ loud and cracked prism. Musically, the Bohannons occupy a unique space somewhere between Skynard, The Pixies, and modern southern rockers like Jason Isbell and the Drive-By Truckers. Matt Bohannon’s vocals can evoke Frank Black piped through a PA at a demonstration. Lyrically, Unaka Rising concerns itself with the conflict and paranoia of our contemporary milieu, a hodgepodge of angry ideologues and frightened people tottering on the cusp of collective horror.
“Goodbye Bill” opens the album with a guitar lick that could amply accompany a montage of criminals plotting a dystopian prison break. The narrator of “Two Riders” pleads with his baby to forego a night of getting high and opt instead to stay home and “drink some wine.” His suggestion sounds a little like begging, a little like a threat.
Each track tells a story of people assaulted by their surroundings and, appropriately, the music finds a way to both succumb to and accompany this assault. “Cold Dead Hand” sways back and forth between a blistering celebration of guns and a rumination on a world where everyone needs one. Only “Built a World” slows down the proceedings. And the world of this narrator is crumbling, alien, and loveless. By the end of the song, the world’s officially off its axis and our storyteller is left to wonder “if your heart was ever found” among its ruins.
The track-listing reads like a possible table of contents from an H.P. Lovecraft collection. “River Above.” “The Ballad of Christian and Other.” “The Cradle.” And, of course, “In the End.” In each, our tour-guides are distrustful and wary, issuing warnings and anecdotes. The politics, social structure, and history of the south haunt the background. But “The South” is a convenient construct. Louisiana’s south is different from Georgia’s south, which is different from Tennessee’s south, all of which run on different bandwidth than Florida’s and Texas’s many souths. On “Ponchatrain,” the story and instrumentation evoke a hurricane’s rain and wind. And we are reminded that the Gulf Coast has a distinct set of environmental and cultural conditions that should not be trivialized by fictitious beasts and contrived love triangles.
In the end, Unaka Rising is the ideal musical companion for a world circling the drain. But its monsters are real—doctrines, storms, close-minded neighbors, drugs, and drink. In the Bohannons’ south, the lines are not so clearly drawn between black and white, living and dead, right and wrong. And when the end comes, it ain’t going to be quick and painless. “Baby, it’s a long and winding ride,” sings the protagonist of “Two Riders.” “Try to keep your hands and feet inside.”
Unaka Rising is available for five bucks from our friends at thisisamericanmusic.com. Support independent music and go get yourself a copy.Music – produced by David Barbe and Drew Vandenberg
http://justinthurman.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/the-swinging-sounds-of-the-dying-south-the-bohannons-dystopian-unaka-rising/
C.W.’S PLACE
(online music site) – Positive album review with album art.
The Bohannons Rock It Out On Their Full-Length Debut, ‘Unaka Rising’
Overall Album Vibe:
Although the band has released a previous EP in 2011 titled, Days of Echo, this is the first time that I ve had the pleasure of hearing their music. This band based out of Chattanooga, TN., plays a brand of roots / Southern rock with an occasional hard rock vibe added in from time-to-time. If you re like me when I first heard the album s title I thought it had some sort of connection to Japan but instead it s a province located in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina that band singer/ guitarist Marty Bohannon say is, One of the finest areas in all the world.
Highlight tracks include the opener, Goodbye Bill, that has an interesting The Black Crowes meets Black Sabbath sound, starting out slow and building up as it goes along. Lyrically band member Marty Bohannon explains it as being, An ode to martyred labor organizer Joe Hill approaching the 100th anniversary of his death. The words are from his last will, as well as from Ethel Raim and The Pennywhistlers song Joe Hill . The up-tempo aptly named alt.-rock gun ownership issue themed track, Cold Dead Hand, with twangy vocals that reminded me of Jerry Lee Lewis. I also enjoyed the fast paced, almost totally instrumental track, The Cradle that features several nice tempo changes in it.
Review Tagline: You can put whatever label you want on the The Bohannons music the only one that really matters is, Damn Good!
Standout Tracks: Goodbye Bill , Cold Dead Hand , The Cradle ,
Review by C.W. Ross
http://cwsplace.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/the-bohannons-rock-it-out-on-their-full-length-debut-unaka-rising/
THE MAD MACKEREL
(UK online music blog) – Positive post with “Goodbye Bill” mp3 and album art.
Southern-fried, glam rock boogie merchants The Bohannons track Goodbye Bill is an ode to martyred labor organizer Joe Hill approaching the 100th anniversary of his death. The words are from his last will, as well as from Ethel Raim and The Pennywhistlers‘ song Joe Hill. You can find it on their forthcoming debut release Unaka Rising, which is as good a set of blues inspired psych-groove as we’ve heard in a very long while.
http://madmackerel.org/2012/09/25/more-new-releases-rounded-up/
ALAN CROSS: A JOURNAL OF MUSICAL THINGS
(online music blog) – Positive post with “Goodbye Bill” mp3 and album art.
Artist: The Bohannons, “Goodbye Bill”
Album: Unaka Rising
The Bohannons’ have this heavy heart that feels like blues, but this almost boarderline Geddy Lee vocal delivery, and then they go and almost sound like 70’s metal. The bottom line is that the Bohannons’ are some good ‘ol kick a little dirt in your face rock and roll.
Sounds like: She’s hot and heavy as hell.
http://www.alancross.ca/a-journal-of-musical-things/2012/9/25/more-music-from-the-inbox-25-september-2012.html
RADIO FREE AMERICANA
(AMA reporting Americana radio station in Verona, VA) – Unaka Rising added to rotation on Sep. 24 (per Cat Catlett)
WILDMAN STEVE RADIO
(AMA reporting Americana radio station in Auburn, AL) – Wildman Steve said he’d making on-air mentions on the Waverly show and “playing the shit out of the new record.”
MOVEMENT MAGAZINE
(online music blog) – News posting (from press announcement) with band photos , album art , streaming audio tracks and related links.
http://movementnews.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-bohannons-unaka-rising.html
PLUG-IN MUSIC
(online music site) – Positive news posting with band photo and “Goodbye Bill” download.
The Bohannons – “Goodbye Bill”
Taking rock music and embedding it with hints of blues and country, Tennessee-based The Bohannons have created a mixture that has rarely been heard before. Coupled with an unusual subject matter, this track may well spark your curiosity and leave you keen to explore more of this band’s “regionally-inspired” music. Take a listen with our free download.
– Christopher Heppinstall
http://www.pluginmusic.com/freemusic/bohannons
HELLHOUND MUSIC
(online music blog) – News posting with band photos, album art, “Goodbye Bill” download and related links.
http://hhmzine.blogspot.com/2012/09/introducing-bohannons-debut-lp-unaka.html
SKOPE MAGAZINE
(online music site) – News posting with “Goodbye Bill” download and related link.
http://skopemag.com/2012/09/05/the-bohannons-offers-free-mp3
NEW YORK MUSIC NEWS
(online music site) – “Goodbye Bill” download featured.
http://nymn.com/icymi-september-5-2012/
FARONHEIT
(Chicago-based online music blog) – “Goodbye Bill” download featured as part of their “Pick Your Poison 9.6.12” download feature.
http://faronheit.com/2012/09/pick-your-poison-thursday-9-6-12/
REBEL ROD’S “FROM UNDER THE BASEMENT
(online music blog for Rob’s syndicated radio show – KOOK/KERV/WLVR/KXT,WXLV/Marfa Public Radio/KSYM/KNON) – News posting (from press announcement) with band photos, album art, “Goodbye Bill” download and related links.
TOP 40 CHARTS
(online music news site) – News posting (from press announcement) with album art, “Goodbye Bill” download and related links.
http://top40-charts.com/news.php?nid=81790&string=100%
MUSIC INDUSTRY NEWS NETWORK
(online music news site) – News posting (from press announcement) with album art, “Goodbye Bill” download and related links.(Also added to their weekly newsletter that goes out to thousands of music industry professionals.
http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=157326