“I Feel like this is the moment in that movie, The Shiningyou know? ” Daniel Allen Deadpans. We've Been Chopping at This Door for So Long, and We Finally Broke Through. 'Hey! It's us from Alabama! '
Allen is the Lead Singer and Co-Founder of the Vegabonds, and ostensibly he's talking about the band's sixth studio album, Young & UNFRAIDout now. But He's Really Just Enjoying the Recent Surge in Popularity For His Band and Other Artists from His Native Alabama.
The Vegabonds Were Founded in 2009 and Quickly Forged A Fanbase Big Enough to Sustain Long-Term. Today, However, The Yellowhammer State Has Seen a Run of Artists Mixing Southern Rock and Country Rise from the Independent Ranks to the mainstream. Bands Like Red Clay Stays, Who Once Once Once for the Vegabonds, and Muscadine Bloodline Have Axed Their Way Through The Door and Found Mass appeal. His Band May Be Forerunners in This Respect, But Allen Recognizes that the attention is paying off for all of his Alabama Contemporaries.
“The Stays, Taylor Hunniccutt, Them Dirty Roses – We've Done Shows With All Of Them,” He Tells Rolling Stone. “They're our buddies, and they're Having Great Moments. I Think It's Great, Because It Puts a Spotlight on Alabama. For A Long Time, It Was Oklahoma and Texas, But Alabama is the one Having This Moment Right Now. It's Awesome.”
The Vegabonds Are Allen, Guitrist Richard Forehand, Bassist Paul Bruens, Keyboardist Beau Cooper, and Drummer Bryan Harris. Allen, Along with Cooper and Harris, Joined Rolling Stone on Video Call Ahead of Their Album Release and Back-To-Back Shows On The Beach at Windjammer in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, to celebrate The Record-A 10-TRACK PROJECT WITH Music That Dates to 2019, and the band's Fil Since Sinners and Saints in 2021.
Young & UNFRAID Finds the VegaGond Pushing Their Music Beyond The Mix of Country and Southern Rock That Has Been the Group's Trademark from the outset. This record incorpotrates elements of blues and soul to several tracks, which cooper attributes to Himself and foreign study and adding effects to their live shows and translating that to the studio.
“The first time People Hear it, they're not going to think about Every word,” Cooper Says. “The second time they hear it, they think about the lyrics. I Think All That Matters, and I'm a big vibe-feeling person, and the way it all Kind of Mixes up Into One.”
That Focus on Vibes, Allen Says, Led to the Collaboration That Gave Young & UNFRAID ITS Musical Range.
“I Love Writing Songs,” Heys. “That's My Passion. And They Usuary as Out Like Country Tunes. But I'm Not Married to the Music .'m Married to the Lyrics. I'm Bing A Verse, Chorus And Bridge to the Guys, and Sometimes the Music Works Great. Other Times, They Say, Ok, The Music is not Working, but the song is there. ' That's When It Becomes a Full-Band Collaboration.
“We want to put out stuff we be believe in, and stuff we can get behind. I Went Back and Looked At These Songs, and From A Lyric Stormt, A Lot of Them Started Six Years ago. They're Old Songs to me, but they're brand New to our fans.”
Along with the Record, The Vegabonds Released a Video For One of Those Older Songs, “Where do you have to be tomoved.” The Tune, Which the band Delivers as a pop ballad Behind Allen's Gravelly, Raw Vocals, Has Its Roots in the Peak of the Pandemic.
“During 2020, I was 27 at the time, and being told that you can't go do this or that,” Cooper Recalls. “And I'm thinking to myself, 'I'm in the prime of my life. I want to advent.' I know that's an adventure song. ”
After the Worst of the Pandemic Passe, members of the Vegabonds Maintained that quest for adventure. Harris Says the time at home-Most of the band Now Lives in Nashville, with families or significant others-Allewed them to re-prihrioritize The Role of Music and Touring in Their Lives. The Group forms A as a College Band at Auburn University, and in the decade that followed, The Band Found That Barnstorming the country and playing with the Likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gregg Allman, OR BlackBerry Smoke was the Easiest Way to Connect with Fans. The Break in 2020, in Retrospect, Allewed Them to Hit Reset As the Vegabonds Collectively Aged Out of Their 20s.
“We were on the road for a Hundred, Two Hundred Dates a Year,” Harris Says. “But I Think That Covid Actually Helped Us in That Respect. It Let us Realize That We Didn'T Have to Go Out For Weeks At Time. We learn we can do the Weekend Stuff. For me, in My Personal Life, Balanced with the band, This is Great. We go out and do three or four Shows, and and then you get to as home. “
These Days, The Group is More Likely to play 40-50 shows in Year, but in Major Clubs Like the Windjammer, Nashville's Brooklyn Bowl, The 40 Watt in Athens, Georgia, or the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC-All of Which Feature On The Vegabonds' Calendar This Year.
“This is year 16 for US,” Allen Says. “We've nailed down the places we are comfortable in, and we know where our fans are. There's always the next place, the bigger room, but these are the venues that we collectively love to play in.”
Young & UNFRAID Should Allaw the Vegabonds to Have That Option Indefinitel. The Band's Best-Known Song Is From 2010-“Shaky Hands” Has More Than Six Million Streams. But the music they have released aesad since more accurate Picture of the band, and the members View Each of Their Records As a Snapshot of a period of time in The Group's History.
For Allen, that holds Espencialy True As the Primary Songwriter. Heys it is the Vegabonds' Record That Will Sound The Most Like His Biography.
“This record Almost Plays Out Like a Life Story for Me,” Heys. “This is a Vegabonds Record, Not A Daniel Allen Record, but it's Cool for Me To Look Back and Have It Take Me Back To The Very First Time We Got Together, Up To Present Day, And Everything in Between – Relationships, Broken Relationships, Sacrifices I'Vo Made for the Band and Through The Band The Band The Band The Band The Band The Band Band and in My Personal Life.
Josh Crutchmer Is a Journalist And Author Whose Latest Books, Never Say Never and and Red Dirt Unplugged Are Available via Back Lounge Publishing.
