(Whiskey Myers | Photo Courtesy of: WhiskeyMyers.com
East Texas band Whiskey Myers will make their debut in Oxford at 9 p.m. Wednesday at Proud Larry’s.
Self-described “rock n’ roll with a little bit of country twang,” Whiskey Myers is strongly reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd or the Allman Brothers in their sound and style approach.
“When writing, we revert back to what we’ve been taught and how we grew up,” bassist Gary Brown said. “We try to throw in our values and make something relatable.”
Whiskey Myers currently has three albums out—“Road of Life,” “Firewater” and “Early Morning Shakes.” The band stays loyal to its east Texas roots, which is prominent throughout all three albums and can be easily heard in “Ballad Of A Southern Man” or “Lonely East TX Nights.” The soft and familiar country lilt heard throughout the songs blends seamlessly with the power and vitality of classic rock.
Brown said he feels the band has grown rhythmically, forming its current sound organically throughout their six-year stint as a group.
“Our style has matured since the ‘Firewater’ record, and certainly since the ‘Road of Life’ record,” Brown said. “The songwriting and energy is a little bit more meaningful than it has been before. The idea is to always grow as musicians and continually get better as a group.”
The band comprises five members—Brown, lead vocalist Cody Cannon, lead guitarist Cody Tate, rhythm and lead guitarist John Jeffers, and drummer Jeff Hogg.
“We all grew up together,” Brown said. “We’re two sets of cousins. Some of us have been friends since we were 2 or 3 years old.”
Whiskey Myers’ message of “honest music” and “relatable characters and situations” has received nods from major publications such as “Rolling Stone” and “The New York Times”, and their tours have ranged from the East to West Coast and all throughout Europe. Oxford is third on the band’s current 26-stop tour, reaching from the deep South all the way to the United Kingdom. Brown said he believes the group accomplishes a series of goals when on a tour of this scale.
“It’s a combination of wanting to reach some new fans and wanting to connect with the fans we already have,” he said. “It also gives us a chance to hone our craft as group. That’s kind of what a tour is to us, being out there and working on what we do best.”
When asked where the group plans to be as a performing band in the coming years, Brown leaves a certain amount of ambiguity in his predictions.
“I’ve pretty much given up on trying to predict what we’re going to do. It always changes. As a goal for our band, we’re just trying to get our name and sound out there as much as we can, and hopefully we can continue to do so for as long as possible.”
Brown did reveal the group had plans to begin work on their fourth album in the coming months.
“We’ll be going into the studio in the beginning of December and hopefully coming out with a new record in the first half of next year.”
Fans can expect a powerful and soulful performance from Whiskey Myers on Wednesday.
“We’ll be high energy. They’ll be out of their seats, moving around. Just an overall rockin’ good time.”
