Earth Day Birthday Artists

The Earth Day Birthday, Kickoff to Earth Month concert is Saturday 4/2. Don’t miss Band of Horses with The Jayhawks!

Band of Horses is Ben Bridwell, Creighton Barrett, Ryan Monroe, Tyler Ramsey and Bill Reynolds. The quintet have long standing ties: Monroe and Bridwell played baseball together in grade school, Ramsey and Reynolds cut their teeth in the same Asheville, NC music scene, and Barrett met Bridwell at a party as teenagers, where they bonded instantly over a mutual obsession with Dinosaur Jr. Over the course of a few years, they gradually synched up. Reynolds came into the fold almost by accident as he happened upon a recording session with the band at his friend’s Echo Mountain Studios and joined the touring lineup soon after. Ramsey,  already an established solo artist, joined after Reynolds introduced him to the band  in 2007

Their latest album, Infinite Arms, not only was hailed as one of the best albums of 2010, it was nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Album! The title of the record is a “Bridwellian” play on words. He’ll never let on to what it means, the only hint that it’s a phrase possibly misheard by thousands of people every day. Dwell on that one if you want to drive yourself nuts!

Last year, Cee-Lo Green covered the Band Of Horses song “No Ones Gonna Love You”. Band of Horses returned the favor with their cover of Cee-Lo’s “Georgia” (with the help of the University of Georgia’s Redcoat Marching Band.) But there’s more to the story than that. According to lead singer Ben Bridwell,

“This began as a very random idea I had on my dad’s patio after we watched our beloved Georgia Bulldog football team get robbed of a win at the hands of the referees and LSU last year. I knew I wanted to pay homage to my favorite team in song but didn’t have any idea how to begin. Once I heard Cee Lo’s “Georgia,” I was immediately smitten and figured that’s as good as any tribute to any state I’ve ever heard. It wasn’t until I heard his cover of our song though that it occurred to me: Duh, we should return the favor. Incorporating the Redcoat marching band was just the icing on the cake! This song is so nostalgic to me as my parents grew up in Atlanta and have so many family members in the great state of Georgia. It’s always been a second home of sorts. We’ve played some great shows there as well, including our run of annual New Year’s Eve shows in Atlanta from 2007-2009.”

Infinite Arms is not Band of Horses first full length album. It’s their third. Their first, Everything All the Time, was released in 2006. Everything All the Time’s first single was “The Funeral”, which you have probably heard because it has been used in many movies, TV shows, games, and commercials.

Band of Horses second album, Cease to Begin, was released in late 2007. This is the album that really put them on the map.   “ the record's...grace is distinctively Southern...
” Onion AV Club on Cease to Begin

According to The Onion AV Club, “Southern rock used to mean stars, bars, blues, and beer, but young turks like My Morning Jacket and now Band Of Horses have added sweetness, sadness, dreaminess, and weed to the mix. (Maybe Southern man doesn’t mind having Neil Young around, after all.) Principal member Ben Bridwell recently moved back to his home state of South Carolina from Seattle, and while his band’s sophomore effort, Cease To Begin, doesn’t deviate much from its excellent 2006 debut, Everything All The Time, the record’s relaxed, understated grace is distinctively Southern in its lack of self-consciousness.”

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“ Like folk music, but really loud.
” Jayhawks guitarist Gary Louris

The Jayhawks were definitely swimming against the tide when they emerged from a crowded Minneapolis music scene halfway through the 1980s. It was a decade that saw the likes of The Replacements, Soul Asylum, Husker Du and Prince put Minnesota on the musical map in a big way. Forging a rootsy sound that wasn’t quite rock or country – “Hank Williams on speed” somebody once memorably called it – The Jayhawks quickly turned into one of the most important bands of the post-punk era. Over the course of two decades, several albums, countless memorable live shows and enough personal drama to fill a couple of Behind the Music episodes, this beloved band soared to heights few ever achieve while winning the hearts and minds of numerous critics, fans and peers in the process. (ed. note–Margot’s too!)

According to Jayhawks FanPage, “in 1985, the Jayhawks opened for Alex Chilton at a Minneapolis club. In attendance was stockbroker Charlie Pine, who became their manager and formed a record label, Bunkhouse Records, with the band. Using Pine’s money they recorded their debut album, The Jayhawks (usually referred to as ‘the Bunkhouse album‘) which was released in hopes of attracting major label attention.

However, no major label offers followed. During this time, A&M Records had given the Jayhawks money to record some demos, but the label passed. In October of 1988, Gary Louris was injured in a car accident and left the band so The Jayhawks took time off.

Despite these setbacks, Charlie Pine continued to shop the A&M demos around to local record labels, and (the label) Twin Tone offered to release the demos. Gary Louris came in to overdub a few of his old guitar parts and decided to rejoin the band soon after. After the demos were re-mixed and a few more songs added they were released in 1989 as Blue Earth. The album garnered critical raves. The Village Voice dubbed them “the only country-rock band that matters.”

1992 was a big year for The Jayhawks. Their album Hollywood Town Hall not only featured guest musicians Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) and Nicky Hopkins (Rolling Stones and many, many well known rock tracks) it quickly established The Jayhawks as a band to watch. They opened for Tom Petty, got lots of great reviews and press and started influencing countless bands.

By the way, Tom Petty borrowed this riff from The Jayhawks:

Here they are performing it on David Letterman circa 1992

The Jayhawks toured steadily during this time and developed a solid reputation as an ace live band and a force to be reckoned with in the burgeoning “Americana” scene ( an association the band has always viewed with mixed feelings.) In 1995, the band released Tomorrow the Green Grass, which was the last release with Mark Olson. (It is also Karen Grotberg’s first appearance as a group member.) Olson, frustrated by the major label rat-race, suddenly quit the band in late 1995, shocking fans and fellow band members alike.

Olson packed up and headed to the Mojave Desert with his new wife, singer Victoria Williams, to embark on a solo career unencumbered by the restrictions inherent to the corporate music business. Louris and the rest of the band laid low for a while and then surprised nearly everyone by continuing on without Olson while keeping the band name. This new line-up released Sound of Lies in 1997.

To prove that they really had wiped the old slate clean, the band enlisted flamboyant uber-producer Bob Ezrin for their next album, Smile. Teeming with an adventurous spirit   “ A classic
” New York Times review of Smile and some of the best songs Louris had written to date, Smile boldly charted new territory for the band (even incorporating drum machines!)

The next chapter in The Jayhawks saga found them retrenching somewhat to the “classic” sound of their earlier albums. Rainy Day Music was chock full of catchy songs that tied together sounds and influences from every chapter of the band’s career. The band – now reduced to a trio, supplemented by  touring member Stephen McCarthy, a veteran roots rocker (Long Ryders) and talented multi-instrumentalist – mounted the heaviest touring schedule and promotional blitz of their career, resulting in their highest charting album ever.

Olson and Louris finally reunited for a couple of well-received tours, followed by Ready For the Flood in 2009, their first full length studio venture together in 15 years.

Even though the door to the future was never officially closed, long time fans were still surprised – and overjoyed – with the news in 2008 that the Tomorrow the Green Grass-era lineup of the band with Mark Olson would be reuniting for some summer festival shows in Europe. The good news kept on coming in 2009 with more reunion shows and the release of the band’s first retrospective, The Jayhawks Anthology, a multi-disc collection personally supervised by Louris that featured key tracks from all phases of the bands career, a disc of rarities and a DVD. 2010 saw the long awaited re-release of the bands long out-of-print, highly collectable first album, as well as the launch of a massive reissue project of all the band’s major label albums.   “ They created a songbook that endures, no matter what the year
” Mark Guarino, Chicago Sun-Times

Mark Guarino of the Chicago Sun-Times sums it up best, “The Jayhawks never sold millions of records, did not have a hit song they could sell to a car commercial nor did any of its members ever date a supermodel or qualify for ‘Dancing With the Stars.’

Instead, the Minneapolis band, newly reformed with the original lineup after 16 years, quietly went about doing what bands with household recognition often lose track of: They created a songbook that endures, no matter what the year. It’s the reason why bands like this are ripe for discovery and later rediscovery while others seem to exhaust all their options the first time around.”

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