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4388 Lexington Rd. 265 North Ave.
706.583.4066 706.543.0005
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May 11: Kip Jones & Jay Ring
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May 18: The Tangents
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May 25: The Vibratones
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Athens. GA 30606
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Green Acres Shopping Center • 1935 Barnett Shoals Rd
T he Jompson Brothers' approach to music comes across as
one of rock and roll purism, but experimentation certainly
has its place in this relatively new project. Formed in
2010, the band plays a style that hearkens back to the days
of Led Zeppelin—a time of rampant bitchin' solos, routine
face-melting, and a general sense of rock and roll reverence.
However, The Jompson Brothers aren't living in the past;
they're building on it. Through their straightahead rock sound,
the band will connect with fans of unadulterated rock music.
"There are so many rock subgenres," says lead vocalist Chris
Stapleton. "With indie rock, folk rock, etc... I think we're actu
ally doing something different by playing straight rock."
But The Jompson Brothers also approach music organically,
writing most of the songs as a band and allowing the pieces
to develop as they may. "Being a straightahead rock band was
never an intent necessarily," says Stapleton. "Most of what we
come up with together tends to lean that way, though. Some
of our newer material has evolved beyond that a bit, I believe,
though, to include acoustic and even pop influences. Rest
assured at some point in those new songs, eventually, we can't
help but regress to hard-hitting rock and roll."
According to their website, The Jompson Brothers were
"born in a garage in Nashville, TN as a result of late-night jam
sessions" between Stapleton and fellow guitarist Greg McKee.
While this description paints the group as the coincidental out
come of unknown, spit-balling musicians, Stapleton is certainly
no stranger to the music business; his bluegrass group. The
SteelDrivers, received a Grammy nomination for its song "Blue
Side of the Mountain" in 2009.
For the most part, Stapleton has made his living writ
ing mainstream country songs for artists like Kenny Chesney,
Trace Adkins, Darius Rucker and many others. In fact, he just
wrapped up a big collaboration with George Strait last week.
Of his contributions to genres that differ greatly from the
sound of his current project, Stapleton says, "There's different
kinds of music for different kinds of music fans... and it all has
a home." Stapleton dismisses the idea that mainstream music
and good music are mutually exclusive. "Just like in rock or any
other genre, there's some of it that's really terrible and some of
it that's really great."
Although one might classify The Jompson Brothers as a
throwback band, Stapleton doesn't romanticize "the good ol'
days." Referring to the current state of country music, the art
ist recalls "countless conversations" with critics of commercial
country radio: "People get down on whether it's country radio
or pop radio... The truth is, you only remember the good music
from whatever time you're remembering. Just like now, there
was always more fluff and terrible stuff on the radio—we just
don't rememoer it."
With The Jompson Brothers, Stapleton has decided to go
back to the fundamental rock and roll model: two distorted
guitars, bass and heavy drums all jamming together and follow
ing whatever direction that interplay takes them. It's a simple
model that seldom has a simple outcome.
In keeping with their straightforward, simple (though hardly
simplistic) approach, the band intimates two main goals of a
Jompson Brothers show: "We hope that people walk away from
a show, one, having enjoyed themselves, and, two, saying,
'Man... that rocked!'"
Kevin Craig
MS
The Jompsofl Brothers, Lest
WHERE: 46 Watt Clah
tN: Saturday. May 14, S p.m.
MXH: $fi (21+), M (1E+!
16 FLAGPOLE.COM MAY 11, 2011
