A Closer Look: Band of Horses

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!

“ About Laredo: I went to this cabin in Minnesota at the Canadian border and three or four of the songs on this record all came from the same four-day trip up there. I was just staring out at the lake for a couple of days and this one just kind of came out of nowhere.
” Ben Bridwell

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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