Our friend Ben Jack used our song “Say Nothing Do Nothing” from our latest EP for this trailer he made. Check it out. Looks and sounds great.

J

So we havent played Mchale’s in Rock Hill in a while, but we will be there Saturday with our friends Megan and Byrne of Megan Jean and the Klay Family Band! Gonna be a fun night with the kids. We’re gonna split the sets up so there will be a little of both bands through the night. Always good to be in Rock Hill.

J

Rock Hill-based quartet Elonzo isn’t about sudden moves and bombastic choruses. It’s not about brashness or volume. Elonzo shuffles in subtlety and plaintive comfort. Frontman Jeremy Davis boasts a smooth croon, tempered by a melancholic moan and bolstered by the understated backing his band provides. Sister Maggie Davis Bourdeau sprinkles gentle keyboard phrases behind her brother’s guitars. Her husband, Dan Bourdeau, drives his drum kit firmly, but without frivolity, shuffling below the melody, pushing and pulling against it, coaxing direction from verses and choruses. Even when the band ramps up — as in the conclusion of “Town in the Pines” — with Davis peeling off slabs of guitar noise behind a plunking banjo and Bourdeau’s insistent drumming, its release is all the more effective for the song’s overall restraint. Ultimately, that’s exactly why Elonzo works. The band’s mostly straight-laced and clean-cut alt-country shuffles belie the intensity beneath them, and when that intensity pokes its head, it’s more dynamic than any blustering, scorched bar band could hope to be. The power is in the contrast. They share the stage this Saturday with local songwriter Harrison Ray’s latest act. —Bryan Reed

hello everybody,

We got another great review out of Hotlanta. This time from atlantamusicblog.com. Its pretty great and honest, which I appreciate. Also, if you’re ever in or going to Atlanta, you should check out the AMG. I used it all the time when I lived there to find cool shows to go to, in a past life.

-J

Alblum Review: “All My Life”

I just uploaded a new demo version of a song “Dont be Downhearted” for you to hear. Go to www.reverbnation.com/elonzo, the song is at the bottom of the player. We get cool points if you go download.  It will probably be a while till I get a full version with the whole band recorded since we are still working on our EP. Also, our t-shirts shipped today, and Dan has almost finished redesigning the whole website. Its gonna be sweet.

J

www.reverbnation.com/elonzo

Our good friend Brandon Oxendine has graciously donated his time and talent towards creating two incredible illustrations that we will be using on T-shirts and posters.  Check out his other artwork, we like it a lot.  Below is an approximate mock-up of what he shirts will probably look like when all is said and done.

Jeremy will be flying through the airwaves at 2pm, May 13.  Tune in to WGWG at 88.3 FM or stream the live broadcast here.  Jeremy will be playing a couple tracks of Elonzo’s debut album, “All My Life,” and a few newly written songs.

So, we are very pleased to announce that the current edition of Southeast Performer features a review of our debut album, “All My Life”. You can check out the review at the online e-reader or read it in its entirety below. Thanks Performer Mag!

Simple and sweet, Elonzo’s debut album is on that fully relects the band’s South Carolina surroundings. With brush strokes of bluegrass, folk and hard-working Americana, the trio’s music paints pictures of the Blue Ridge Mountains and lush forest hiking trails.

The quiet nature of their songs is felf through quick rootsy quitar picking, as found in “About Last Night,” or in the slow swing tempo of songs like “Fool’s Gold.”

Still, Elonzo’s take on folk tunes are not dated or tired rehashings of the past. Like Band of Horses, or even the later works of Conor Oberst, the band bottles the soul of its musical inspiration, yet still manages to build on it in a relevant way. This is seen greatly in the lyrics written by quitarist Jeremy Davis. All My Life is an album that tackles the same issues that have always plagued songwriters, only this time the working man has insurance to worry about and the religious man acknowledges his sin but does not always try to correct his wrong doings. Most of their tracks surround a type of journey that has no real end point, the suspensions that are felt as we move through life. This is especially so in the song “Forty Miles to Asheville,” which details a sort of never ending road trip of self-discovery.

All My Life is an album that was literally produced in-hous by the members of Elonzo. All the recordings were done at one of the member’s homes. Because of this there are occasional stints of background noise, but they usually prove to be edearing rather than distracting. The overall sound of the recorded track could be more robust with more layered instrumentation, but for a self-made debut this record is truly something to treasure. -Nico Stahl (Southeast Performer Magazine)

I’m not sure if you could call two gigs in two days a tour of any kind, but for the sake the argument we will just go ahead and call it a “mini-tour”.  On Thursday we sojourned to Spindale, NC at the invitation of WNCW, to play an on-air performance in Studio B (see: 26 minute below).  Our good friend John from The Heavy Sandwich filled in for Maggie, seeing as she could not make it on a Thursday, it all went swimmingly… thanks John!  On Friday we all met up in Johnson City, TN to play a gig with our new friends The Scapes.  Thanks for everyone that showed up and supported our Tennesee debut, hopefully there will plenty more to come.

Elonzo Live in Studio B from Dan Bourdeau on Vimeo.

In an attempt to be trendy and keep our blog current, we have uploaded a music video for your listening pleasure.  The video it Jeremy’s version of Ms. Lucinda Williams wonderful song “People Talkin’”.  Now, we are not too sure of the legalities of this recording (if anyone could clear that up for us we would appreciate it), but considering that we will make no money off of it and we have very few personal assets I don’t think we have a whole lot to worry about.  Anyway, enjoy!