We've claimed Have Gun, Will Travel as our own, even though the rousing Americana and roots-rock outfit fronted by singer-songwriter Matt Burke is really from Bradenton. Have Gun have just returned from a national tour promoting their forthcoming full-length, Mergers & Acquisitions, which finds the quintet returning to their beloved dusty road aesthetic, replete with the usual rich array of sonic textures by viola, lap steel guitar, harmonica, and even some whistling. Burke delivers twangy poetic waxings on anything from appreciating life in the face of our fleeting mortality as in opening track "Dream No More," to righteousness and ruthlessness ("To The Victor Goes the Spoils"), to the quirks and habits of a group of siblings all living in a single-bedroom flat ("Song of Seven Sisters").
The band celebrates the completion of Mergers & Acquisitions (due out Nov. 1 on Suburban Home Records) with three Florida release parties. The Tampa date is sandwiched right in the middle and is hosted by WMNF.
Details: Have Gun, Will Travel CD Release Show with Hymn for Her and Snakehealers, Fri., Oct. 21, 8 p.m., Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa, $10 in advance/$13 dos.
This article appears in Oct 20-26, 2011.