Country chart toppers hit NWA
Lindsey Pruitt
Issue date: 10/15/08 Section: Lifestyles
The Eli Young Band is scheduled to perform 8 p.m. Thursday at the Arkansas Music Pavilion at the Northwest Arkansas Mall.
The band recently was signed to Universal Republic/Universal South and just released their major label debut, Jet Black & Jealous. Last week, the album charted at No. 5 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart.
The band features four members, drummer Chris Thompson, lead vocalist and guitarist Mike Eli, lead guitarist James Young, and bass guitarist Jon Jones.
They will be singing songs off of their new album, such as "Always The Love Songs" and "When It Rains," as well as songs from their previous album, like "Small Town Kid."
"We started the band in 2000, about a year after the four of us met at the University of Texas in Denton, Texas," Thompson said. "We were friends first and then started to jam together. I think our friendship before the band began has helped a lot in why we have been a band for eight years."
The band's name comes from a combination of Mike Eli and James Young's names.
"The four of us started jamming garage band style, and Mike and I began writing lyrics," Young said. "Friends gave us the name Eli and Young, and shortly after [we] dropped the 'and' and added the 'band.' The rest is history."
The combination of the band's country and rock influences and their melody-based, story-like songwriting make their music unique, said Thompson, a sentiment with which Young concurs.
"Country music has some of the most loyal fans in the world," he said. "We are really blessed to have so many great friends and fans in the business. We sing about real things that go on in everyday life and life experiences in general. We are storytellers, and that's what country music is all about."
The band's lyrics come from a variety of places.
"Lyrics can be from anything, but they are always best if they come from personal experience," Jones said. "We did a majority of the song writing on our new record. We don't really have a formula that we use to write a song. Every song happens differently."
The band recently was signed to Universal Republic/Universal South and just released their major label debut, Jet Black & Jealous. Last week, the album charted at No. 5 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart.
The band features four members, drummer Chris Thompson, lead vocalist and guitarist Mike Eli, lead guitarist James Young, and bass guitarist Jon Jones.
They will be singing songs off of their new album, such as "Always The Love Songs" and "When It Rains," as well as songs from their previous album, like "Small Town Kid."
"We started the band in 2000, about a year after the four of us met at the University of Texas in Denton, Texas," Thompson said. "We were friends first and then started to jam together. I think our friendship before the band began has helped a lot in why we have been a band for eight years."
The band's name comes from a combination of Mike Eli and James Young's names.
"The four of us started jamming garage band style, and Mike and I began writing lyrics," Young said. "Friends gave us the name Eli and Young, and shortly after [we] dropped the 'and' and added the 'band.' The rest is history."
The combination of the band's country and rock influences and their melody-based, story-like songwriting make their music unique, said Thompson, a sentiment with which Young concurs.
"Country music has some of the most loyal fans in the world," he said. "We are really blessed to have so many great friends and fans in the business. We sing about real things that go on in everyday life and life experiences in general. We are storytellers, and that's what country music is all about."
The band's lyrics come from a variety of places.
"Lyrics can be from anything, but they are always best if they come from personal experience," Jones said. "We did a majority of the song writing on our new record. We don't really have a formula that we use to write a song. Every song happens differently."
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Caroline Card
posted 3/11/09 @ 3:15 AM CST
That looks like lots of fun. When I was in college we didn't had so many fun activities.
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