The Devil Pays In Counterfeit
Artist: The Hotshot Freight Train
©2007 Future Destination
www.myspace.com/thehotshotfreighttrain
 
Gritty rock and roll from Knoxville, TN, this band really captured my attention with their mature sound and packaging, much like old newspaper bulletins from the Civil War era. Influences range from The Clash, Wilco, to The Replacements. I picture a band that plays in a smoke-filled club at 2 AM with their intelligent, persistent sound, much like VOL once did. This is thinking man’s music.
 
The lyrics from “Love Like Heroin” paint a portrait of needing God like a drug:

I’m much too important to myself to think of those I’ve hurt.
Tell my mother and father I love them when I’m sleeping in the dirt.
But I still believe that Jesus saves.
God, I pray that it’s not too late.
God, I hope that it’s not too late for me.
This love like heroin. 

“Appalachia” is probably the strongest set of lyrics I have come across in some time: 

…Here in Appalachia, it takes a while to come around.
This is where the Bible and the cross are as visible as the sun.
And endless debt and addiction have our children on the run.
And for those of us who daily struggle with the past. 

The best medicine is the Gospel and a whiskey glass. But I want you to know that I wouldn’t have it any other way. As far as I go, I can still find my way along these roads. This is where I belong.
 
Appalachia may be led astray, but it will never be completely wrong. Here in Appalachia, we’re still haunted by the ghost of the Civil War. And the whole nation believes we have a long way to go. God knows. God knows that we try. But in Appalachia, just like anywhere else, it’s a struggle to survive.”
 
This has my vote for a band to watch out for. Smoke-filled surroundings will never be the same.

thecannyshark
April 2008 

 
 
Bradley Snyder (thecannyshark) co-authors and writes for www.PneumaticTire.US, a web-zine chronicling the ongoing history of the Christian underground and independent rock scene.