No offense, but The Band Of Heathens haven’t been playing by the rules. To wit, they chose their name because a local promoter called them The Heathens (they were casually known as The Good Times Supper Club until then); they didn’t start thinking of themselves as more than a side project until around the time they were named Best New Band at the March 2007 Austin Music Awards; and their first two albums were live recordings. They haven't exactly followed the Standard Operating Procedure for bands, but it seems to be working so who's complaining? But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
By late 2005, four singer/songwriter/guitarists had spent months following each other onstage every Wednesday night at Austin nightspot Momo's. Colin Brooks, Ed Jurdi, Gordy Quist and Brian Keane had arrived in town from various parts of the country and were each going it alone before they joined forces one evening, with bassist Seth Whitney joining in. What started as an experiment became The Band Of Heathens.
They made their recording debut in the fall of 2006 with Live From Momo's, and before they'd released the spring 2007 follow-up, Live At Antone's, drummer John Chipman had been added and Keane had moved to Nashville — leaving the band with "only" three frontmen.
For their third release, BOH finally went into the studio, with Ray Wylie Hubbard producing and Patty Griffin, Stephen Bruton and Gurf Morlix in the mix; the result was 2008's The Band Of Heathens, an album fraught with authentic, soulful country-rock songs that pack enough grit and gristle to bring to mind The Eagles, The Black Crowes and Little Feat.
Provenance: Austin, Texas
Latest Release: The Band Of Heathens (2008)
© 2008 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
The Band Of Heathens
