Blogs > Indie Outing (the secret jambands roots of indie rockers)

Indie Outing: Band of Horses

Bill Reynolds with Donna The Buffalo at MagonoliaFest 2006

Indie-Jam Connection: Band of Horses shares similar Alt-rock/Americana shares roots with many modern Southern Rock-inspired jambands like Widespread Panic, Gov’t Mule and part-time jamband My Morning Jacket. Only while those three groups are driven by lengthy guitar solos, Band of Horses is really a showcase for the songs of frontman Ben Bridwell. But before he joined Band of Horses in 2007, bassist Bill Reynolds spent time on the other side of the indie/jam divide performing with Donna the Buffalo. As a member of Donna the Buffalo, Reynolds appeared at jamband festival across the country, including the inaugural Bonnaroo in 2002. Band of Horses keyboardist Ryan Monroe also spent time on the jam circuit as a member of the Southeast band Captain Easy.

Notable Jam Moments: Like many folk-based indie bands, Band of Horses has been somewhat adopted by the jamband scene. After seeing the band perform at Bonnaroo in 2009, Widespread Panic keyboardist JoJo Hermann asked the band to open for Panic a few times last year. Not only did Band of Horses open for the jam heroes, but Monroe sat in with Panic on two consecutive nights at Raleigh, NC’s Walnut Creek Amphitheater, On April 23 the keyboardist joined the group for a cover of JJ Cale’s “Ride Me High” while on April 24 he emerged for Neil Young’s “Vampire Blues.” After the shows Bridwell told Spin, “I’ve got friends down here [in South Carolina] that are awestruck about us playing with Widespread — they’re huge — as am I. Hopefully, we can do a good enough job that we can pick up one percent of a crowd that big. That’d be a job well done.”

Lot Talk: “I attended Bonnaroo for the first time as a fan wandering from stage to stage and I got turned onto two bands that really blew me away and took away my “it’s all been done” jadedness instantly. They played back to back on the Which Stage. They were Band of Horses and Andrew Bird. I play their records over and over, as do many of your readers I’m sure,” JoJo Hermann, Jambands.com