The Revivalists

One Liner: Jammy rock band from New Orleans with a big current alt rock radio hit.
Wikipedia Genre: Alternative rock, roots rock, indie rock, jam band
Spotify Says Similar To: Perpetual Groove and Galactic
Home: New Orleans, LA

Poster Position: 7
Slot: ?

Thoughts: 7th row on the poster is pretty impressive.  I've been saying for years that these guys should have been invited to come out to ACL.

I feel like I've talked about this over and over, but it looks like I've really only discussed it the one time when I reviewed their most recent album, 2015's Men Amongst Mountains, but I know the pedal steel guitar player for this band, Ed Williams.  I don;t know him well or anything, so don't start asking me for tickets or something, I'm just trying to give a tiny bit of a brag here while I can.
When I was a junior (I think) in college, I got to go to Miami for Spring Break with one of my best friends from college (Jason, the guy I always do ACL with each year) and our respective girlfriends (now wives = score).  We were staying with Jason's girlfriend's dad in Miami, who had this freaking ridiculously amazing house that made us all feel like the coolest people on the planet.  Like an episode of MTV Cribs that we got to go inhabit for the week.  That trip was fun as hell.  Anyway, the little brother of my friend's girlfriend was this surly little teenager who was trying to hang with us but still show how uncool it was to have to hang with us, and so at one point, he looked over to me as I sat by the pool sipping some frozen drink and enjoying myself, and he says (in a very condescending voice) "You have a lot of freckles!"  Which was a sick burn.  And off the top of my head, I just responded that "yes, yes, I do."  The cool college kids laughed at that (and have ever since), but now little Edward is having the last laugh because his band has become a big hit.  I got to see them play at the Parish a few years back, and they bring a ton of energy to their shows and really jam it out.  Jason and I hung with them in the green room before their show started, and they all seem like legitimately cool, down-to-earth guys who enjoy doing what they are doing these days.

So, yeah, that big hit.  The band's 2015 album seemed to not do much for years (I'm actually not sure about that, but literally was released on July 17, 2015 (and apparently sold 3,000 copies in its first week), and then it was only recently that they started getting a ton of play on the alternative rock stations.  That seems like a long ass time to wait for a hit to come along, more than a year.  I'm super curious how that came about for them, but I can't come up with an answer from looking at the web right now.  The odd twists and turns of the modern radio landscape.  But, now they've got a whopping 14.1 million streams for "Wish I Knew You," which dwarfs any of their other tunes.

Another 4.8 million views of that video too.  Funny video of old people grooving and a good tune as well.  As I noted when I first reviewed the album, the good stuff on there is also "Keep Going" and "All in the Family."  "Monster" is good too.  I think these guys are at their best when they embrace the jamminess of their sound and involve all of the instruments into a groove.

Before the newer album and the bigger hits you've got on there, the big song was from 2014's City of Sound.  When I saw them live, and somehow the college-aged kids around me knew all the lyrics, it was "Criminal" that everyone seemed to be there to hear.

Yeah, get right up in that groove right there.  Good stuff.  And the use of the pedal steel is just different - I mean, other than Robert Randolph, what big bands are out there using the steel for their searing guitar solos like this?  If you do a google search for that information, you mainly get stuff about classic (and by classic I mean dead) steel guitar guys or country music people.  I don't know, I know I'm biased here, but I think it makes for a much cooler sound to have the sax and steel added to the otherwise normal rock band sound to get something more interesting and full-sounding.  So, I'm a fan of these dudes and would enjoy seeing their set again.

Recommend?  Yes.