Nashville’s Blackfoot Gypsies are a rock ’n’ roll band—straight up, no modifiers necessary. With four years, four releases, and countless miles under their belt as a two-piece guitar & drums powerhouse, Zack Murphy and Matthew Paige have recently added fellow brethren Dylan Whitlow (bass) and Ollie Dogg (harmonica), bolstering their passionate, careening, undeniably American sound. Seeing the band live is like watching someone cling to a firehose at full blast or dig their heels in atop a thrashing mechanical bull… holding on for dear life, slowly guiding and reacting to forces at the brink of their control, somehow coming up aces in the end.

Blackfoot Gypsies have shared bills with everyone from the Alabama Shakes and Trampled by Turtles to Futurebirds, The Ettes and The Carolina Chocolate Drops. Their second full-length LP, Handle It (coming fall 2014), is the band’s debut as a full-throttle four piece. Drawing inspiration from the downhome roots of the Delta blues and the foreboding ghosts of country music’s past, Murphy, Paige & Co. go to the same well as Zeppelin, the Stones & The Faces, coming up with bucketful of angsty rock 'n' roll that’ll jolt your flatlined heart back into perfect rhythm.

Rock and roll is alive. The Blackfoot Gypsies are proof.