The guys in the Band of Heathens are fond of saying they became a unit by accident. But that’s like saying the Big Bang was an accident. Unplanned, maybe, but hardly random. One might even argue that a kind of destiny was involved. The merger of singer/songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Ed Jurdi, Gordy Quist and Colin Brooks, with bassist Seth Whitney and drummer John Chipman, from their respective solo careers and bands may not be akin to a cosmic explosion, but their new album, One Foot in the Ether, offers irrefutable evidence that they were meant to be together — and have evolved into a solid entity worthy of the comparisons they receive to the Black Crowes, the Band and Little Feat.

One Foot in the Ether is the Band of Heathens’ strongest work so far — and that’s saying something, considering their last three releases (two live and one studio) brought the band out from relative obscurity to playing 250-plus shows a year for their rabid fan base, as well as a coveted taping for this year’s 35th Anniversary season of the Austin City Limits television program. Their last album hit No. 1 on the Americana Music Association Radio chart, spent two months at No. 1 on the Euro-Americana Radio chart and wound up at No. 8 on the AMA’s Top 100 Albums of 2008 list. That album also earned the band an Americana Music Association Honors & Awards nomination for 2009 New Emerging Artist of the Year. The group took Best New Band honors at the 2007 Austin Music Awards, shortly after their current lineup came into place as the band morphed from a side-project to a cohesive tight unit.

6 Day Bender’s a 4-piece rock’n’roll band from Charlottesville. Songs of midnight runs and glaring mornings, built of sounds mined from the bedrock of American music, and delivered in riotous reflection. Blues and bluegrass; loud, hard soul.
On the cusp of releasing their sophomore album, they are traveling with a pocket full of songs.
“Imagine the O Brother where Art Thou soundtrack if it where covered by The Stooges… What the Doors might have sounded like if they had been from Mississippi instead of L.A.” (Twang Nation, Feb. ’09)