Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist from the Austin country rock group The Band of Heathens joined us for an episode of Real Life Real Music with host Kyle Hutton. Both have appeared on the show before, several years ago, and we were all reminded why they were welcomed back as soon as the performance started.
Their first song “Jackson Station” was originally Gordy’s idea, but he admits he never would have finished it without Ed’s help writing the bridge. The two next played another song they wrote together, called “Shotgun” that really played up their strong voices and beautiful unison singing. Host Kyle commented on how difficult that is to do and they do it so well.
“The Other Broadway” had a great gospel ramp up at the end and the guys said this one was inspired by a NY Times article about Brooklyn becoming the other “Broadway” as in the hipster capital of the world. The funky “Medicine Man” showed off their vocal range, while “LA County Blues” was a blast from the past off their 2009 album “One Foot in the Ether.”
The guys then talked about what they’ve been up to recently and some new lessons they’ve learned. Gordy stated that he now strongly believes that seven men shouldn’t live together, as the group did when they were starting out in Austin, and Ed said that he’s learned sleep deprivation can be inspirational since having children has prompted him to write several new songs.
The Band of Heathens has a new album coming out in September, and Ed and Gordy played “Miss My Life” off that album for the first time. They also played a new one written by Gordy called “Shake the Foundation” about shaking things up while on tour to keep things interesting.
Late in the evening the guys took audience requests and played a fan favorite “Hurricane” that they had on an earlier album that didn’t perform very well but they knew the song was a hit so they put it on another. With Ed on harmonica, this powerful song about the storm in New Orleans was very touching. They ended the night with another request for “Green and Blue” that Gordy wrote when he proposed to his wife, a beautiful ballad.
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