God & Guns sounds like a decent Southern rock jukebox: a little 38 Special, Blackfoot, Black Oak Arkansas, country cousins like Montgomery Gentry and, of course, Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Which is this band's burden. It can't escape the shadow of past glories and heartbreaking loss, nor does it seem to want to. Several songs here long for a return to a lost South, where folks could sleep soundly with the doors unlocked, a Bible and a pistol nestled in a dresser drawer.

Of course, things were never that simple. The band that sang Gimme Back My Bullets also had a hit with Saturday Night Special, which probably wouldn't play onstage at a tea party.

Lynyrd Skynyrd might have evolved into a country band that rocks convincingly.
*George Strait could take "Unwrite That Song", God & Guns' best track, to No. 1.
Instead they've become a rigidly conservative hard-rock band, something just as rare but not as enjoyable. Maybe they didn't have a choice. As the CD's other standout says, they live to serve Skynyrd Nation.

— Jim Kiest


*Maybe so, George is a great talent, but I'll take Johnny, thanks anyway.