| Reviews of The Gunshy's No Man's Blues... "The second full-length release from Pennsylvania tunesmith Matt Arbogast is a gripping album of despair, lost love, and squandered opportunities. Once a solo project, Arbogast has added a few friends to The Gunshy to flush out his sound on this disc. The most distinctive thing about this album is the phenomenal vocals. Arbogast has a voice so gritty that he makes Tom Waits sound like a castrato. When he sings of his modest grave, haunted nights, and darkest dreams, his voice captures that desolate place in the heart. When the band kicks in to his acoustic guitar melodies, there is a Celtic vibe to the music. Hopefully, Arbogast’s life isn’t as dark as his music would lead us to believe. With a voice as phenomenal as his, the future should be bright indeed." - Skratch Magazine "I’ve come to the general conclusion that there are two schools of songwriters – one fits into a category with Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright – the songwriters whose voices soar above sweeping guitar and piano. The other school was professored by the likes of Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle and a pack of Marlboro Reds. The Gunshy’s Matt Arbogast has his PHD from the second school. No Man’s Blues is extremely solid from beginning to end, which is an accomplishment for any songwriter especially in days where the genre is dominated by pop hit machines like Dashboard Confessional. If you want to hear something real go no farther than 'Reason to Retreat'. I am glad to see that someone is still making honest/good music – file under SUPER TIGHT." - Bettawreckonize "This album plays like a catharsis, a purging of pent-up anger, love, self-loathing and fear. On 'No Man's Blues', Arbogast is backed by a melange of musicians. The acoustic guitars, cello, violin, and occasional harmonica paired with Arbogast's gravelly voice lend to the exceptionally mournful, poignant sound...this is a great album." - Punk Planet
"It’s no coincidence that No Man’s Blues opens on raspy voiced singer/songwriter Matt Arbogast, who croons an electro-folk ballad that continues to focus listeners' attention long after the rhythm section fuses together an accompaniment of drums, bass and keyboard. Abrogast’s soothing, everyman guitar and his I-smoked-two-packs-a-day-and-don’t-give-a-fuck vocals clamp down with an unforgivingly raw allure. His narrative storytelling plays like the guilty pleasure of a long departed pulp novel, a jukebox sympathy that one would picture unfolding from the speakers of a sparse and seedy Irish pub. Not the trendy sort, where hipsters flirt and drink Guiness pints and listen to Flogging Molly, The Tossers and Dropkick Murphys, but one that caters to miners and mill workers and serves cheap bourbon. Reminiscent of latter day Dylan, if only Dylan could have lost his voice with such conviction."
–Barry Engelhardt. Copper Press "As Jeff Tweedy is basically Wilco, Matt Arbogast is basically The Gunshy. Recording this album in two stints recently, The Gunshy sound like the distant relative of Tom Waits as Arbogast's fragile, whiskey stained pipes are delectable on the slow 'Reason To Retreat'. It's a perfect start that is part Celtic sway and driving power pop as The Gunshy ride a never-ending crescendo. He later perfects this on the rambling rock-tinted 'Your Favorite Dylan Song'. Arbogast isn't the happy-go-lucky sort on the sparse folk of 'I Will Die Alone' which could make a grown man cry. 'I know I will die alone,' he sings as a guitar is heard in the distance. It's this depressingly yet gorgeous style that makes The Gunshy so damn good! 'Congratulations' doesn't reinvent the wheel but has Arbogast spewing a tad more venom at his target. 'Dead Ends' has more of an up-tempo roots rock base. The landmark moment comes during an angry 'Seven Weeks' that hits a nerve. 'I'm fuckin' up my life for rock and roll,' he sings on the captivating effort. The Gunshy come off as if they have a gun nearby and are penning letters before they do something drastic, including on the lovable 'Breakin' Some Bad Habits' featuring Michelle Moyer on cello. Going down such a dark path is not recommended, but The Gunshy has done a yeoman's job walking it and should reap the rewards from it." — Jason MacNeil. Pop Matters "On 'No Man's Blues' The Gunshy offers up some of the most beautifully bleak and starkest of stark tunes you could ever hope to hear in this life or any other. Matt Arbogast (who essentially is the Gunshy) has found a way to dip his pen into the most hurt and hollow places of the human soul and has emerged with words that spill forth those deepest pains in a way that's not only realistic, it's also palpable. Think Nebraska-era Springsteen without the distant murmur of packed arenas in the past and on the horizon, think a more poignant Tom Waits, think Bob Dylan with boxing gloves strapped tight across his fists, think of lapsing into a depressive episode in the middle of an Irish jig. These are serious songs, though, filled with hopes crushed in the cracks of the sidewalks of Lancaster, Pa., of futures washed away with pills doled out by doctors and nurses when protagonists were far too young to begin numbing themselves from the world around them, these are songs, after all, about those who've died before they've begun to live, not because they choose to but because they exist in a world that wouldn't have it any other way. It's grim, sure, but it's sad and beautiful and if tracks such as 'Reason To Retreat,' 'I Will Die Alone' and 'Your Favorite Dylan Song' don't convince you, then you need only try again, for Matt Arbogast and No Man's Blues are the real deal. A great and important record. The Gunshy plays the Eagles Lodge on Sunday, Nov. 7 with William Elliott Whitmore, Troubled Hubble and Ricky Fitts." - F5 Wichita "'These cigarettes may kill me, but for now they're keeping me alive,' sings Matt Arbogast, aka The Gunshy, whose 'Your Favorite Dylan Song' gives Crooked Fingers a run for the money in the dourness department. But then it kicks into overdrive and all you can do is raise your arms in the air, praying for death or heroin."
- Unremitting Failure "Forget the layers of solid sonic foundations that make up The Gunshy’s overall dark sound; forget the power behind the build-ups and the weightlessness felt during the breakdowns – what is most striking about The Gunshy is Matt Arbogast’s tortured voice. Arbogast belts breathy phrases about hurting the people he holds closest." - Pulse Weekly "The Gunshy is another name for Pennsylvania based singer-songwriter Matt Arbogast, and whoever he manages to round up to play drums and stuff. "Your Favorite Dylan Song" is what Tom Waits might sound like if he had Dylans penchants for long, guitar driven epics. Nicotine scorched vocals, raw, intense guitar work, and a stripped down, bare bones approach to the word epic that makes every note, every phrase, burn with tension, with power." - Teaching the Indie Kids to Dance Again
"This record is brilliant. Take everything you love (or hate) about Tom Waits and make it raw. Matt Arbogast, the creative singer/songwriter, is the man behind The Gunshy. It's difficult to review something that is someone else's feelings, as as you listen to this record you know exactly how he felt the moment he was writing the lyrics. It's painfully honest and truthful. When he whispers 'I'm fucking up my life for rock and roll' you can't help but know exactly what he means. Playing as a band or just by himself, The Gunshy manages to capture your utmost attention, turn you upside down and spit you out and you're not the same afterwards." - What's Up Bra?
"Matt Arbogast (Gunshy vocalist) seems to have smoked a lot of cigarettes. The result of his smoking has forged some sort of symbiotic relationship between his vocals and instruments, leaving them scuffed up, scratched, and pretty raw. If you could make a graphical representation of The Gunshy's music, it would just be a large amount of ash and soot, with maybe a few guitar strings coiled up around it. The music on No Man's Blues is much like this, choking itself in deep bluesy twangs and dusty drum spatters. "He said, 'I'm sure I will be forgotten/These days have played me like a fool," are the opening lyrics to No Man's Blues, and sets the general tone for the album. Although Arbogast might have a bleak outlook on life, his music is one thing that turned out well. Often his music is painfully soulful, catching the listener in his wails of supposed torment. In my favorite song "Seven Weeks" it seems that all he does is yell his chalky voice until it blows out, but then he starts back up again in the next song. Often his music is depressing, it is hard for it to not rub off a little. I myself felt a little down after listening to 'I Will Die Alone,' hearing Matt Arbogast proclaiming over and over, 'Where hollow stairs by former flairs/won't remind me of what I already know/I will die alone.' It's no surprise that The Gunshy has shared the same ticket as fellow sad-sacks Elliot Smith or Songs:Ohia." - Indie Workshop
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