The Texan quartet are headed back to Australia next month to tour with country superstar Toby Keith and to perform the annual CMC Rocks The Hunter festival. In just over two weeks the band will release their fifth LP '10,000 Towns'; the record offers a whole new chapter for stalwart zealots, and guitarist James Young tells us why.
Your latest record is set to drop next month, what did you find you were able to say on ‘10,000 Towns’ that you didn’t or couldn’t say on your other four LPs?
I think that this record has allowed us to be more reflective, and really captures the happy place we all are in our lives right now. We really chose songs for this record that would rev up our live show in that we cut a lot more uptempo songs for this album.
Why do you think that is?
We were so blessed with the success with our previous record, and this record really allowed us to run a fine tooth comb over the songs we wrote and chose for this record. we wanted to make sure we were putting the best of the best from beginning to end.
Looking back on the writing process of ‘10,000 Towns’, how did the success of records like ‘Life At Best’ and ‘Jet Black’ and ‘Jealous’ affect the creative process?
Every time you go into the studio, you are always learning and pushing yourself to do the best you can. We always want to make a record that is cohesive from beginning to end, and we feel like we accomplished that like we have before on previous records.
You wrote ‘10,000 Towns’ under the Republic Nashville imprint, how many tracks on the album were co-writes due to that partnership?
We try to write as much as we can on all our records, but a good song is a good song, and we aren't afraid to cut it if we fall in love with it. This is the first record all four of us have sat down and written songs together with other writers, which was an awesome experience. We have been lucky develop many friendships with amazing writers.
You’ll tour Australia with Toby Keith next month but you’ve played with him many times in the past. What have you learned about the music and live industry from your time with him?
Toby is an excellent artist and businessman, His career speaks for itself. He has always been great a supportive to us. He also knows how to have a good time, as do we! It's going to be a blast.
Eli Young Band have been together for over 14 years, you’re now a very different beast than you were in your university days. How do you keep the fire burning?
We were friends before the music, and now it's really transcended now into a brotherhood. We all keep each other motivated and keep each other in check. We have the greatest jobs in the world, and we are still having a blast!
How would you describe your current relationship with your Australian fans?
Australia embraced us big time, and for that we are truly grateful! We are honored to come back for a second time and rock the house!! CMC has embraced our music and in turn we have been able to come play amazing shows. You can tell Australian fans really love live music. It reminds us of starting out in our home state of Texas, we can't wait to meet as many of you as we can!
