Eli Young Band

 One Liner:  Cheesy, well-polished country schmaltz

Wikipedia Genre:  Country

Home: Denton, TX

Saturday.

Thoughts:  Oh, one of these songs is great - I've heard that one before.  Feel like it must be covered by someone else, being that I've never heard of this band, but who knows. This band is made up of guys who met while students at the University of North Texas, in Denton.  Many moons ago, someone at my small college set up a trip to Denton, in a horrific death trap of an old school bus that was (as I recall it) painted purple.  It took us straight to some Denton college bar where we binged our idiot heads off until it then took us back home.  Couldn't tell you anything about the bar, or really even the night, except that this one 'roided out friend decided that he needed to punch the ceiling of the bus until his torn up hand was spraying blood all over everyone.  Freaking Aaron, man.  

Also of note, Eli Young is not the name of one person.  The lead vocals/guitar guy is Mike Eli, and the guitar player is James Young.  Poor Jon Jones on bass and Chris Thompson on drums got their last names dissed by the band.  They're like the disciples with those generic first names!  Mike and James were freshman year roommates, and initially did an acoustic duo named Eli & Young, before meeting the other two and becoming this iteration here.  

Four #1 songs, which is impressive in my mind because I'd never even heard the name of the band before it showed up on this poster.  It sounds like they had some limited success with smaller label albums, got a gig opening for Miranda Lambert, got signed by Republic Nashville, and things blew up.  Their first big single, and still their top streamer, is the deeply cheesy "Crazy Girl."  244.9 million streams.

See what they did there?  He loves her like crazy!  She's not crazy, it's just his love that's so crazy!  His hair looks like Nickelback.  Just painfully treacly lyrics - "silly woman, come here let me hold you, have I told you lately, I love you like crazy, girl."  And yet it has 244 million streams and I have zero, so who is the smart guy now?  

I need you to go and read the comments for this song on YouTube.  I am totally creeped out by this now.  Apparently, many people have taken it to be the song of their relationship and it's weirding me out.  

• "My fiance sings this to me when I'm sick, crying and in physical pain, when my (bi-polar manic depression) heart is hurting, and anytime he knows I need his arms around me. Nothing hits like this song. Nothing."  
• "I was just released from the mental health unit in a hospital. I was admitted for attempting suicide. My guy has stood by me through all my struggles. He is so supportive. I love him like crazy."
• "This was my wedding song. I have PTSD-Veteran. Was in the Military for 13 years and it took a toll on me. My husband still hasn’t divorced me. Most marriages don’t last very long with severe complications from PTSD."  
• "My girl has borderline personality disorder and severe depression. Some days I have to wake her up and get her clothes ready for work. But I love her so much. I love her like crazy. I’d never leave her." 

I don't think they intended an anthem for ladies with mental issues and the guys who stick with them!  Whatever!  "Just Add Moonlight" is so deeply cheesy that it makes me laugh.  Just a tangle of pure cliche.  I wonder how many times they sing the world "girl" in these songs?  They spend a lot of time talkin' to that "girl."

Seven albums - 2002's Eli Young Band, 2005's Level, 2008's Jet Black and Jealous, 2011's Life at Best, 2013's 10,000 Towns, 2017's Fingerprints, 2022's Love Talking - along with some EPs, a live album, and a greatest hits compilation.  They also have two new singles, so I expect they'll have a new disc ready by the time they hit the stage in April.  They also do a cover of a silly song that I love - "Amy's Back in Austin" with someone named George Birge.

Here is the song that really rang a bell when I heard it.  "Even if it Breaks Your Heart."  199.9 million streams.  I love the sound of it - the backing tune has some southern rock/Tom Petty flavor, and the chorus soars.

Originally performed by co-writer Will Hoge, but that isn't the version I know.  It is this one.  That video is amazing when fireworks and then glitter fall behind them as they are jamming.  Now I can't get the Nickelback comparison out of my head.  Nominated for multiple Grammys and ACM awards, but no wins.

Oh, they also had one of the deeply disappointing songs on that Tom Petty tribute album.  Maybe that is why my brain compared them to him, but it makes me sad to compare them.  This is all very nice sounding, but it makes me think of the way those well-polished 90's country bands did - the Diamond Rio or Little Texas style schmaltz and glamour - except without the punch of nostalgia that those older bands give me.  I don't expect that I'd go see it.