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(from left) Members of The Eli Young Band James Young, Chris Thompson, Jon Jones and Mike Eli pose for a photo in their tour bus before their CD release party at Rockin Rodeo September 15, 2008.

Denton-based Eli Young Band rises up

By: Melissa Crowe

Posted: 9/19/08

Step by step, the Eli Young Band brings it full circle and back to its roots, which were planted in Denton.

What started out eight years ago as two NT roommates, Mike Eli and James Young, playing acoustic sets at RBar on Bernard Street has evolved into four dedicated friends performing cross-country tours in sold-out venues.

"We've always felt like something bigger was around the corner," bassist Jon Jones and drummer Chris Thompson said. "Whether it was getting a new van or playing a show in Austin or, you know, making a record. It was just go out and play and make one fan at a time."

It seems no matter what, the band comes first - over jobs, girlfriends, even trucks. Eli traded in his truck for the band's first van.

For the past eight years, all the band has known how to do is play shows, hit markets and work hard. Luckily for the members, the guys have had chances to perfect their sound since their first album.

"Playing that much helped us make records that really, truly represent us and our vision for music," Eli said.

It isn't necessarily life in the slow lane for Eli Young Band. The route it has traveled is the way the members want it done, "as opposed to right out of the shoot, get a record deal, make it overnight," Jones said. "You can fizzle out really quickly that way." The Eli Young Band's mission is to establish loyal fans and the ones it has "have been incredibly great to us," Young said.

"We've just worked really hard and developed a kind of grassroots thing and have been very fortunate for the fans we've had come out," he said.

The band's latest album, "Jet Black and Jealous," was released in front of a full house of college students and a few of their parents at Rockin Rodeo on Monday night.

It takes a little bit of Denton and a whole lot of brash enthusiasm only a true Texan could muster to bring foot-tapping, head bobbing music to these loyal fans.

"I just want our fans to love this record as much as we do," Eli said. "This record is more 'us' than anything we've done so far."

The gritty base lines and vocals in track six, "Throw and Go," written by Eli and Young, put listeners in a trance: "Turn up the volume, take it up a notch." The song is nearly perfect for a quick escape until the bubble bursts in track seven, "Guinevere."

Eli and Young collaborated with Scooter Carusoe, the man responsible for Kenny Chesney's "Better as a Memory," which holds the No. 12 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Recurrents chart.

Immediately, listeners are brought back to the "cry right along with the rain" sap from the lead track, "When it Rains." However, that song, which was also on the 2005 album "Level," brought numerous opportunities to the band, including a 38th position on Billboard's Hot Country Song chart.

"'When it Rains' is a big part of what we have done in our career and has kind of spanned, you know, directed the last five years of everything we have done," Eli said.

The rest of the tracks range from confused love ballads, "Anytime you think you wanna be my love, stop asking, get in the car and drive," to heavy distortion guitar in segments of "How Should I Know."

At any moment, one might expect Eli's vocals to suddenly degenerate into words burdened with madness. The title song "Jet Black and Jealous" features Young on mandolin and Eli with some heart-breaking puns: "I can't lean on you 'cause I fall right over/Can't count on you; it doesn't add up."

This album is country for a new generation.

"We don't necessarily fit in, but we fit in," Jones said. "Radio has embraced us and our sound."

Before signing with Universal Records about nine months ago, Eli Young Band shared the stage with Dave Matthews Band, Sheryl Crow and John Mellencamp. It also grossed more than $1.7 million, sold more than 100,000 tickets and played more than 200 dates last year.

Catch the group at the Austin Ventures stage at the Austin City Limits Festival on Friday, Aug. 26, at Zilker Park in Austin.

"Here it is eight years later, and our heads are still kind of spinning from all that has gone on," Young said.

No matter what happens, they say Denton will always be the home of Eli Young Band.

"It's where we started it," Thompson said. "Twenty years down the road on our gear it's always going to say, 'Eli Young Band: Denton, Texas.'"