Well, I guess it’s my turn. Kasey and RSV have already dropped their faves of the year (here and here) on y’all, so there’s just no avoiding it for me now. This year was particularly difficult due to the sheer amount of great music that came out, and had I made this list tomorrow it would certainly change. That said, you can edit forever but eventually you have to settle on something and call it your list. So, with out further ado I am gonna steal RSV’s formatting and get this show on the road:
Who doesn’t like Eastbound and Down? I’d venture to guess that it’s only folks who haven’t seen it and I have yet to meet a single person who’s heard The Takers that doesn’t like them.
Yesterday, during a Facebook exchange Virgil hatched a plan that we should try and get a song by The Takers on Eastbound and Down and I wholeheartedly agree. One problem, neither of us know how to go about it and a couple of hours research last night got me no closer. So, your mission, should you accept it is to repost this link from the Suburban Home’s website on your Facebook, Twitter, myspace…you know the drill and if anyone out there knows how to go about getting music on a TV show please email me.
Anyone who pays any attention to music in Florida has heard about The Takers at some point in the past year, and since Suburban Home picked them up the hype machine has been doing nothing but gaining momentum. By the time Virgil reached out to me with a copy of their debut album, Taker Easy, I was already wondering if they would be able to match the advance billing. Now, after spending some 2 months with the cd and managing to catch them live at the Citrus Circuit Tour, I can readily proclaim that yes, they are worthy of the hype. Now hopefully with the cd finally coming out the rest of the country will get behind this little band from Gainesville.
The Takers are a ragtag collection of bike mechanics, cooks, restaurant managers, cashiers and recycled ink salesmen out of Tim Tebow-land (Gainesville). They came together as a band almost by accident when Devon Vlasin (singer) found himself in need of a backing band to open for an upcoming Willie Heath Neal show. A few phone calls and free beer bribes netted a temporary band that decided to keep at it after the show. After some member revisions and additions, the band finally settled in with Devon Vlasin bring joined by Chad Smith and Ronnie Holmes on electric guitars, Jerome Goodman on bass, Mike Collins on pedal steel and Jon Reinertsen playing drums.
Having caught his ear, Coody from Suburban Home’s Ninja Gun started talking them up to Virgil Dickerson who took more than a passing interest (psst: Virgil, check out Truckstop Coffee from Lake Worth). After some phone calls, the label and the band agreed that Suburban Home would put out the “Curse of A Drunk” single and that they should all meet during Virgil’s trip to 08’s Fest to discuss a future relationship. The rest, as they say, is history, and we’re now blessed with Taker Easy.
Taker Easy is, at the risk of sounding trite, exactly what I think of when I think about “Florida Country”, which is to say they’re as much rock and roll as they are shit kickers and twang. Suburban is selling the album as their “outlaw country” band, a modern version of Waylon Jennings, if you will. I’d say they have a little more rock and roll in them than that description suggests, but otherwise I have no qualms with it. I could go into long, descriptive, RIYL tangents, but why should I? Suburban Home has been gracious enough to allow us to stream the entire album here on ninebullets, so why not just check it out for yourself. Personally I think, like me, that you’ll find Taker Easy to not only be Essential Listening, but also that it’ll probably end up being a Top 10 of the year. And as a Floridian, I am proud that these fellas are from my state.
