Groupees

Brendan Benson is a genuine American voice. A co-founding member of The Raconteurs, Benson has released critically-acclaimed albums throughout the past decade. The songs come rough-hewn but charged with hooks and wit on 1996’s One Mississippi. 2002’s Lapalco brought perfect pop ripeness. On The Alternative to Love in 2005, there was something quite brilliant, quite burnished about his songwriting. This year’s offering, My Old, Familiar Friend, gathers all of these influences – the Americanness, the Anglophile twist, the geography, the rock and the pop – and creates something truly exceptional.

On September, 20th 1976 an unknown nurse wrote “Young Mr. Hines” on the patient info sheet for the yet to be named newborn child. As the youngest of seven children, Young seemed perfectly fitting to his parents, and it stuck. Young Stryker Hines began playing music at age 12 and hasn’t stopped since. He began releasing his music in high school via tape cassette, selling copies out of a local record shop called Turtles. Later in college he and a few friends started a 60’s cover band called The Roaches, and found success opening for Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and other icons of the 50’s and 60’s. In 2000 he parted ways with The Roaches to produce a record for his eldest brother Matt Jordan. Together they played as the duo Bailey Jester and toured extensively across the US and Canada, playing over 260 shows over the course of a year. Excited to explore a new scene, Young moved to Chicago where he started making demos in a home studio, selling hand-packaged copies at his occasional solo shows and to fans online. One day out of the clear blue sky he got an email from none other than Brendan Benson containing a cover of one of Young’s own songs. As Benson would relate to him, he’d come across Young’s music by chance when friends of Young, who happened to be painting Benson’s house, were listening to one of his demos as they worked. Benson invited Young to Nashville, and the two had an instant creative connection, with Benson expressing his interest in helping him produce an album. The decision was easy for Young to make: he moved to Nashville where he recorded the album Give Me My Change with Benson at the all-analog studio Welcome to 1979. The album was released on April 10th on Benson’s Readymade Records. After opening for The Raconteurs at The Tabernacle in Atlanta (GA), Young went on tour with Benson in Europe and the US.

Brendan Benson is a genuine American voice. A co-founding member of The Raconteurs, Benson has released critically-acclaimed albums throughout the past decade. The songs come rough-hewn but charged with hooks and wit on 1996’s One Mississippi. 2002’s Lapalco brought perfect pop ripeness. On The Alternative to Love in 2005, there was something quite brilliant, quite burnished about his songwriting. This year’s offering, My Old, Familiar Friend, gathers all of these influences – the Americanness, the Anglophile twist, the geography, the rock and the pop – and creates something truly exceptional.