The first time I heard the phrase “Nine Pound Gun” was when I was partridge and pheasant hunting near the Madison River in Montana. As we practiced with 12 gauge shotguns on some skeet before heading out into the fields near the river, one of the guides pulled out an old Civil War-era Springfield rifle and quickly hit, reloaded and hit, two clays. The second guide, who had been tending to the dogs, yelled back at the group of us hootin’ and hollerin’ over the accomplishment and said “Hey, Eagle-Eye, showing off with your 9 lb gun?” I didn’t understand the odd reference until I later found out that the rifle weighed 9 pounds and that a 9 lb gun was actually a European cannon found mounted on vessels of the English and Spanish armadas of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Nine Pound Gun (9LB GUN) is also a great power trio that fires classic, country-tinged southern folk rock in the tradition of Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo. Jeremy Phillips provides lead guitar and vocals. Ross Kinsler plays a left-handed bass and Bob (The Drummer) Lovvorn provides skins and cymbal play. Both Kinsler and Lovvorn ably provide back-up vocals. Phillips and Lovvorn have shot it up together, off and on, for the past 20 years. The band is from Lafayette, IN - Middle America - and they sound the part. They only recently pulled the trigger on forming a trio with Kinsler.
9LB GUN has released one locked and loaded album and it is explosive It contains ten targeted tracks, is called Twelve, Twelve, and it goes off just like an over under shotgun. One barrel is full of bar room rock - the other, alternative rock backseat ballads. It all packs a one-two punch and can do some major damage when properly aimed. It is great beer bar music loaded with a bit of two-stepping - and it is American as apple pie.
By the way, 9LB GUN says on Facebook it is looking for a manager. Doing it that way is kind of a field artillery approach to a sniper problem, don’t you think? Hope it works out for them. 9LB GUN is definitely worth a shot.
- Old School