Loud and proud, they sing about what they know with a refreshing directness and clarity. Some call it rebel music, but it’s more like everyday soul. Their songs are stories, with relatable characters and situations. Stories of celebration, of mourning, of trials and triumph. Through the quality of these songs, and the band’s undeniable power in concert and on record, Whiskey Myers has attracted a devoted army of outspoken fans who pack venues, sing the band’s praises online, and continue to make them a growing word-of-mouth sensation.
As guitarist John Jeffers explains, “Staying true to ourselves and to our music has gotten us to the point we’re at. We really wanted to continue on that same track.”
Whiskey Myers are grand southern eclectics, pulling in an array of influences and seamlessly mingling them. Listeners can pick up traces of everything from grunge to rockabilly in the course of a set, united by Cannon’s soulfully heartfelt singing and Brown and Hogg’s solid, supple foundation. On top of it all, Tate and Jeffers intertwine their leads, soaring in harmony one moment, darting around one another in intricate improvisations the next. Sure, they’re rousing—just cue up “Hard Row to Hoe” or “Where the Sun Don’t Shine” from Early Morning Shakes for a dose of pile-driver intensity. But their range is wide and expanding, as is evidenced by the inclusion of moving, thoughtful reflections like “Reckoning” and the elegantly arranged “Colloquy.”
In Whiskey Myers’ world, nothing is off-limits. Nothing is too personal, too sensitive, or too controversial to embrace and explore. Theirs is a confidence born of a long-standing brotherhood—a closeness that few groups can rival. That closeness even extends to their road crew, whose first two members were a cousin and childhood friend of Cannon and Jeffers. “Well we all grew up together,” bassist Brown explains.
Lincoln Durham and Air Review are scheduled to open for Whiskey Myers at Austin City Limits to start the 55th Supreme Chapter.
Armed with old bastardized mid-century guitars, hand-me-down fiddles and banjos, home-made contraptions with just enough tension on a string to be considered an instrument and any random percussive item he can get his claws or hooves on, Lincoln Durham is an amped up Southern-Gothic Psycho-Blues Revival-Punk One-Man-Band preaching the good word of depravity. With driving guttural beats back-boning his growling instruments Lincoln births a sound that transcends genres while telling dark and raw tales that Mr. Poe would have blessed with his own tears.
Air Review is a Dallas quartet. They played their first show in 2009 and have since received international acclaim from the blogosphere including features on NPR’s All Songs Considered, CMJ, The Huffington Post, and Paste Magazine.
Their knack for engaging melodies has turned heads around the world securing licensing with the International Olympic Committee, Pacifico, Levi’s, and most recently, Apple’s 30 Year Birthday campaign.
For more information or to purchase tickets for the Supreme Chapter Kick-off at Austin City Limits:
