Overall, (Slant 6) is a fantastic album of down-to-earth, full-on, guitar-driven rock-a-western mayhem. Fantastic guitar work and inventive instrumentals all with a boot-slamming rhythm. Hot damn.- Bully Magazine, Ken Wohlrob

Slug Mag, Kevlar7 - After one listen to Slant 6 the verdict is, ìSimply breathtakingî. Obviously taking a cue from surf music, The Riptones match the fire and jump of any vocal driven Americana music out there. The band only ìsingsî when it comes to shouting out the title of the song here and there throughout the track. The song, ìClose Shaveî is perfect for drinking cold Budweiser on a hot day sitting on the patio. Others like, ìExtra Sauceî and ìDonít Touch My Hairî is upbeat toe tapping fun. While on ìNuggetî the band tries their hand on some soulful instrument garage that will get even the grumpiest greaser shaking his rump. Whether a listener is into rockabilly or not, The Riptones make their songs engaging to anyone who just likes music that is all about good times and kick ass musicianship.

If an American roots music spokesband needed to be nominated, The Riptones would have to be on the ballot. -- Kate Buczko, Rockpile

David Fufkin , PopMatters, This is the best roots record of 2000, hands down.  As to the Riptones, I can't say enough about this recording. Great songs, vocals, and authentic acoustic bass, guitar, vocal and room sounds without it seeming too deliberate. There is no way that anyone could say this stuff is pale in comparison to good stuff from the '50s. I urge you to check this recording out.

Dennis DeWitt, Blue Suede News, A modern American classic and a must have for your collection.

Rob Adams, The Herald, Scotland, The RipTones have drunk deep of Tennessee and Texas and whack out their Sun Records-kissed rebel rock with potent attention to deep-grained finesse and American work ethic.

Rory Ford, Edinburgh Evening News, The RipTones aren't musical tourists, they're musical evangelists, and their white-hot energy and faultless playing could well win you over.

Chicago Magazine, September 2000, There ain't nothing alternative about the RipTones' brand of country. Buckshot is made for two steppin' with a longneck in one hand and your gal in the other.  Don't be surprised if Jeb Bonansinga's smoky croonings and the obscenely twangy steel guitar and working man lyrics prompt you to grease your hair into a pompadour and start speaking with a drawl.

Eric Zehnbauer , Country Standard Time, It's a sound that one could expect to hear coming out of the beat-up jukebox in the back of any of thousands of taverns in thousands of dusty little country towns or blasting from the dashboard of any of thousands of 18-wheelers as the driver keeps time on the steering wheel. Songs like "Rebel Rock Armageddon" and "Get Me A Job" are rollicking rockabilly stompers, while "Pardon Me" sounds as if it's straight from the Buck Owens songbook. The final track, "Burdett's Pond" is a slow, mournful ballad greatly enhanced by the pedal steel of guest guitarist Frank Anderson. The Riptones are as solid as ever.

Brian Baker, Country Standard Time, The Riptones' sophomore release is teeming with a dark country vibe that still comes off as bouncy and fun. Like some of country's great storytellers (Tom T. Hall, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings), The Riptones' Jeb Bonansinga writes simple and often unsettling little odes that are sonically bright and lyrically shadowy.  

USA TODAY, February 1999 Brian Mansfield
"The Riptones, Cowboys Inn: The Riptones' cool roadhouse roots music contains just enough surf-guitar reverb to put some muscle in its twang and just enough wild-eyed rockabilly to make it sound crazed. Sometimes, guitarist/vocalist Jeb Bonansinga's songs about offbeat characters like Crazy Charlie and Mama's Boy sound like little more than four-chord trifles, but the two instrumentals, Go Be and Do and Big Timber, slice like a switchblade. And the barroom temptation of I Can't and I Won't eventually will prove irresistible to some Nashville artist who'll still contemplate singing songs about cheating."

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE.......Kevin McKeough
"As their new, fourth CD, "Cowboy's Inn", demonstrates, the RipTones are still a reliable source of energetic country and rockabilly spiked with droll humor."

TEXAS JAMBOREE.......Dan Ferguson
"If you ask me, there aren't enough bands in this land nowadays like The Riptones. A good timin' and high-spirited bunch with a catchy as heck mix of hot licks and big twang, outfits like this are placed on this earth simply for the pleasure of coaxing you into packing up the old kit bag and knocking back a couple or three cold ones to help toss those troubles away."

GAVIN Record To Watch, Rob Bleetstein:
"Take a little bit of Sun Records' era Orbison & Presley, mix that with Buck and the Bakersfield honky-tonk, and you've got a mix to mess with from these Midwestern rockers."

NASHVILLE BANNER Best Bets, Michael Gray:
"Chicago roots band The RipTones rip through road-house country, rockabilly and surf...World renowned, no, but a good time for sure."

ILLINOIS ENTERTAINER; Gwen Ihnat:
"The Riptones punctuate their poignant countrified lyrics with the perfect music to back them up: a slappin' upright bass, a pistol shot snare, an occasional mandolin, and a constant rub board. "

ROCK RIVER TIMES (Rockford, IL), Doug Collier:
"The Riptones are one of the leaders of the growing insurgent country,scene and provide a romping stomping good time with their version of roadhouse country mixed with sounds echoing of Elvis, the Beach Boys and Muddy Waters."

GAVIN Americana Picks, Eric Shea:
"...the Riptones have recorded an enticing hybrid of songwriting styles. The menu here carries a flavor of traditionally rich roots music packed with a sweet punch of rockabilly that will have the kids swinging in juke joints from coast to coast...a beat that would feel right at home with Big Sandy and his Fly Right Boys..."

OUTRE, Chris Dickinson:
"...a compelling mix of primitive rock'n'roll, hard country, and surf. True, the Riptones have absorbed the genuine rockabilly intensity of Sun Sessions Elvis, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. But they've equally absorbed the spirit of 1940s boogie pioneers Maddox Brother and Rose, the hard-country-edge of Texas honky-tonker Ernest Tubb, and some of the Dorsey Brothers swing."

JOURNAL AND COURIER (Lafayette, IN), Dave Bangert:
"Sure, Elvis Presley's Sun Sessions are gone. But here come the Riptones doing the best they can to carry on with back-to-basics roots rock. And they do it with a fistful of roadhouse country boogie songs."

COUNTRY POST, Edgar Ames Shelton:
"...a band with a lot of original material and promise. Their style is straightforward 'look you in the eye' and blow out the walls."