The Band of Heathens

The Story of how The Band of Heathens came together is testimony to how music can and often does create community. The buzz from Austin around these guys has grown organically from Wednesday night gigs at MoMo's. As the story goes they orginally started as the three principle songwriters (Colin Brooks, Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist) playing three sets on Wednesdays. Then they started sitting in with each other and eventually started playing as a group. Apparently one night a local paper mistakenly said a band named The Heathens was playing at MoMo's. As a joke that night they referred to themselves as a "Band of Heathens" and it stuck. So a band that wasn't together and had no name is now a band with a name. It is as simple as that.

How much of the above tale has been altered by the folklore of the Austin music scene I have no idea. I do know this. The reason they are together now is because fans showed up and loved their music every Wednesday night. An unsolicited loyal fanbase built them from the ground up. Tht is the music "scene" at its best. They were created on stage in front of a live audience, and not by a major label hype machine in a corner office. Howe popular are they in Austin? They won Best New Band at the 2006 Austin Music Awards, before they even had a studio album out. The new self-titled release was produced by Ray Wilie Hubbard and features appearances by Patty Griffin, Gurf Morlix and Stephen Bruton among others. It was released on May 20th.

STAY TUNED FOR A GIVEAWAY CONTEST. THE BAND HAS BEEN NICE ENOUGH TO PROVIDE A FEW COPIES TO AWT.

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This Review also appears on: Twangville