Monterey Coast Weekly, August 2003 http://www.coastweekly.com/article.asp?section=1007&view=&ref=9357 The Shut-Ins Sing Songs of Pain and Joy Shut-ins Records San Francisco has long been a bastion of roots music aficionados and performers. The main challenge of this pursuit seems to be the tenacity of any given artist in unearthing nuggets from the rich vein of the arcane underpinnings of popular music. San Francisco's own Shut-Ins, have proven to be qualified miners of many a hidden chestnut buried in the archives of musical Americana.  John Poultney and Mike Roper began their archival odyssey pursuing gems from the vast repertoire of country music legends like the Louvin Brothers, perhaps the Grand Ole Opry's greatest exponents of "close-harmony" singing. And much like the Louvin Brothers whose imprint allowed them to "own" a song with their signature sound, the Shut-Ins have managed to come awfully close to burning their tunes into the minds of those willing to give their latest CD a spin. The 18-song effort from this witty quintet showcases the musical madness of singer/guitar player, John Poultney, ukulele/vocal stylist Mike Roper, drummer Corey Losee, upright bassist Tom Drohan and the stellar guitar work of Rick Hendricks.  The disc serves up a smorgasbord of humorous and historically intriguing chestnuts with several Louvin Brothers featured classics, twang-worthy tunes from Buck Owens, a couple of Carter Family gems, plenty of ukulele and terrific steel guitar Hawiaana in a "hula-billy" style, old-time-ified/bastardized interpretations of carefully chosen vintage rock tunes from Blondie and NRBQ and a sprinkling of Tin Pan Alley from the likes of Gus Kahn.  This unique combination evokes a sonic American tapestry as viewed through the warped and whiskey-addled minds of a bunch of hip San Francisco music junkies. Adding to the hilarity is a 10-minute ghost track, which spins only if you keep the disc running when the music appears to have concluded. This special feature provides booze-fueled out-takes from a late night recording session covering the 1941 Inkspot's hit, "I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire."  This new Shut-Ins effort is on par with the lofty energy and twinkle-eyed hi-jinx of any given live performance by this band of jocular troubadours. Seek out Sing Songs of Pain and Joy if you like a dab of country music history and a dollop of winsome humor with your hula-billy music.  --Ted Silverman    Hicks with Sticks News, August 2003 www.hickswithsticks.com NEW SHUT-INS CD The artwork alone on the Shut-Ins new CD gives them away. The cover features three generations of Norman Rockwellian stiffs singing, while mom plays a '70s mall store Hammond beneath the title "Shut-Ins Sing Songs of Pain and Joy." The back panel features a line drawing of a five-headed creature that represents the band. Each head has three eyes but no nose. The band photo inside shows our heroes, lifelike on a grassy hill, but they don't even look like a band. Instead, they look like five guys who pooled their money to buy one of those metal detectors that they sell on late-night cable TV, and now they are about to try their luck. Musically, the band is mainly about tunes covered hulabilly style. There are C/W tunes including "I Wish You Knew" and "The Family Who Prays" by the Louvin Brothers, and the old Carter Family tune, "My Clinch Mountain Home." But they also cover "Hawaiian Cowboy" (sung in Hawaiian), "Hapa Haole Hula Girl" and Blondie's "Dreaming (Is Free)." It's all great fun but if there's a hitch, it's in the CD's six or so "sincere" songs. The band is having such a good time with the other dozen tracks on the CD, that their attempts at sincerity seem "challenged."  Otherwise, be prepared to suspend time, thought and imagination for absorption into the life-affirming and transformational experience that is hulabilly. Get your life affirmed and your transformer experienced at www.theshutins.com.  Menacing figure in shadowy hallway July 2003 "That shocking peril which gibbers unmentionably outside the ordered universe, where no dreams reach; that lastamorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemous and bubbles at the centre of all infinity - the Shut Ins,whose names no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaw hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time amidst the muffled,maddening beating of vile drum and the thin, monotonous whine of accursed flutes."

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