Country fans of St. Louis flocked to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Thursday night for a boot-stompin’ good time at the No Shoes Nation Tour. Music mogul Kenny Chesney was joined by rising stars, the Eli Young Band, a quartet from Texas that might be fairly new to the big league country scene, but is no stranger to the stage.
The guys behind the band—Mike Eli, vocals and guitar; James Young, guitar; Jon Jones, bass; and Chris Thompson, drums—met while attending the University of North Texas. They put their melodious talents together to create a country-meets-rock band and have since made four albums with another on the way.
Though there’s no word yet on when Eli Young Band’s new album will drop, its first single, “Drunk Last Night,” will debut on country music radio stations today, July 1. The previous album, Life at Best, was the band’s first major-label album, under Republic Nashville. Before their most recent chart topper, “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” the band won an Academy of Country Music Award for its first No. 1 hit, “Crazy Girl”—both songs went platinum.
We chatted with vocalist Mike Eli about the band’s recent success, St. Louis, Kenny and what’s to come.
First of all, welcome to St. Louis! How was your show last night at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater?
It was great! We love St. Louis. It was very hot, but we’re from Texas, so we’re kind of used to that.
What was your impression of the city and its country music fans?
They’re great. They’ve got a lot of enthusiasm. For a band like us, we’ve only had a few big hits, and the great thing about fans in St. Louis is that they remain enthusiastic and they get into the entire show.
Your last album, Life at Best, was a serious breakthrough for the band. What are your hopes for the upcoming album?
You always want to do bigger and better, so we have a huge opportunity to take it to the next level with this album. While we’ve had a lot of success on the last album, we’re just hoping it continues. Our career has always been about baby steps and hopefully with this album, those steps get bigger and bigger.
What can we expect to hear on that album that we haven’t heard from you before?
We really try not to record the same song twice. We’re always trying to expand the Eli Young Band sound and be better at what we do, whether it’s writing music or performing on stage. We’ve learned a lot in the past recording previous albums, to where we really had a focused goal in mind. With this album, instead of trying things that we’ve tried in the past, we’ve found the things that work for us and directed our attention there. There’s a lot of stuff that’s been great on our previous albums, so we’ve kind of gotten back to that.
The first single, “Drunk Last Night”—what was the inspiration for it?
We’ve all been there. That moment the next day when you’re like, ‘Did I make that phone call?’ and ‘Should I have made that phone call?’ You see the title and expect to hear something completely different from the song. And it’s just fun!
Let’s talk a little about the No Shoes Nation Tour. Tell us how it is to tour with Kenny Chesney.
It’s huge. This is the biggest tour we’ve ever been on. We enjoy touring and for a long time, we were doing our own tours, or just short tours with people. In the last few years, we’ve been doing long tours with folks. Kenny is one of the nicest people you’ll meet and he puts on an incredible show. We’re like school kids out here, just observing everything.
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
The four of us try to make time for each other. We don’t have any rituals, but we make sure we spend time together before we go out because it’s important for us to walk out [on stage] as a unit.
You guys have been busy with touring and making music for the past few years. What do you do for fun?
Well, this is fun! That’s the great part of having a job like this. It’s our hobby. But as much as we like playing on stage and writing songs, being able to get home and spend time with our families is a priority.
Your signature sound is country with a touch of rock and roll, who are your biggest musical influences?
For us as a band, it ranges from Springsteen to Paul Simon to Don Williams. We just really love music. It doesn’t matter what kind.
How would you define ultimate success for the band?
Being able to spend time with our families while also having a career. Success for us is longevity.
For more, go to eliyoungband.com.
