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Last Saturday, a band made their way to town in a troubled truck.  Troubled enough that The Only Sons weren’t even sure if they could make back home to Murfreesboro, TN.  I arrived to White Water expecting Mat Mahar to be kicking things off for the night, but was sorely disappointed that they weren’t playing.

I missed The Only Sons' first song or two, but no more than that.  I had been communicating with at least one of the members prior to the show, and he was kind enough to send me the link to their latest release, Steel Hearts.  This was at least two weeks before they made it to Little Rock, and I listened to it multiple times with each time making me grow fonder of them as a band.  I liked their sound directly off the bat, but more time with their material made me clamor to go out and see them.

Upon first listen, I picked up on the subtle undertones of Glossary, Lucero, and bands of that type.  I wasn’t aware of the fact beforehand that Joey Kneiser had done vocals on at least one of their songs, so I guess I was spot on with describing them. They played a great mix of newer material and older material, which I was not familiar with, much to my delight.  I’m going to have to get my hands on a copy of Young Lungs some time in the near future so I can further acquaint myself with it.  They’ve got the playful quality of their music like Glossary, the less gravelly than Ben Nichols’ voice in Kent Goolsby’s vocals, and a rock aspect to tie everything together.  However, they don’t have the typical rock star attitude that some might expect.  I met four seemingly very grounded men, good old boys if you have it, whom I could tell genuinely loved what they do.

In their performance, along with their new record, these men come across as true musicians who are doing what they want and are happy with that decision.  It was an atypical Saturday night at White Water, with no more than 40 total people there, which should have been packed.  However, that didn’t bother TOS.  They actually went on to say, “Fuck Memphis!  Only five people came out to our show there.”  Well, I had a great time standing up front supporting them, and I can only hope the next show brings more people out to see them because they’re good.  If you want to see true musicians doing their thing on stage, despite the downfall of a small crowd, a sick truck, or some other random, negative reason, catch them the next time they stop through Little Rock because they put on a great set.

--L

Here’s a link to their Myspace if you’re interested.

(Photo by: J. Anne Photography)