The National Parks

One Liner:  Lovely indie folk that makes me think of the Civil Wars

Wikipedia Genre: Indie, folk pop, indie folk

Home: Provo, Utah

Poster Position: 5 (27) 
Weekend One Only.
Friday.

Thoughts:  The first, most popular track on Spotify could have been a Lumineers track.  And they even mention the "Great Tetons" in that song, so they're sticking true to the band name!  I hope every song mis-names one of the national parks as I listen.  The next one will sing about the Large Bend, and then the next will mention the Wide Canyon.  Would be a perfect schtick.  Also, it is funny to think that they are singing about really nice boobs in this song.  That makes 12-year-old Jack happy.

Also, they are from Provo, Utah, so the older Jack who worshiped Fletch is also happy.  "Three names I enjoy, Marvin, Velma, and Provo."  "Provo, Spain?  Uh, Utah."  I know that someone has to be at the bottom of the poster and all, but these guys are definitely better than some of the other stuff that ranked higher than they did.  On the daily schedule, they are the last thing on Friday - behind the Huston-Tillotson Jazz Collective.

The front man, Brady Parks, started writing songs while a student at Brigham Young.  It sounds like he tried a few bands and released before the lineup gelled and they came up with the band name as a play off of his name.  Their debut album, Young, came out in 2013 and fired up to #13 on the iTunes singer/songwriters chart.  They later won Utah's Band of the Year from Salt Lake City Weekly and one song won the International Songwriting Competition.  By now they have six albums, and it is mostly pretty pleasant stuff in the indie folk pop vein.

That top song is not even on an album, which seems like an odd choice.  "As We Ran" is a 2014 single that popped up between the debut album and second effort.  29.4 million streams.

Their top songs, like this one, make me think of the kind of music that my kids' summer camp would use to soundtrack the camp video of kids jumping into the river and playing group games.  But again, I'm really liking that he is singing that "we belong here with the great boobs."  Really pretty song - just a lovely vibe.

Their second-biggest tune is from that debut album - "Wind & Anchor" has 15.6 million streams.

Nice harmonies - now its more of a Civil Wars vibe.  Remember that band?  They put on an excellent show at ACL years ago.  Just lovely stuff.  This song really feels lo-fi and underdeveloped - like the first album of a group of folks just exploring what they could get figured out with each other.  But pretty again!  I would definitely go check it out (although my guess is they'll have the awful noon slot on Friday or something).