This post is from Out the Other's 2009 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2009 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.
Editor's note: This is a guest preview from contributor Sarah Thornton, a Nashville-based budding music journalist who publishes her own music blog, We Don't Get Out Very Much. Sarah can be reached via her website, or via email at sarah.thornton7@gmail.com.
Band of Horses are the perfect festival band. Not only have they played almost every fest imaginable (from Coachella to Oxygen to Roskilde to Glastonbury), but their music and live show is absolutely geared towards the a festival setting - lead singer Ben Bridwell's voice is incredibly powerful and translates perfectly to large crowds and outdoor stages. And that's exactly what the band will find at at Bonnaroo.
Formed in Seattle in 2004, Band of Horses (originally called just "Horses") released their debut album, Everything All the Time, on Sub Pop in 2005. Shortly thereafter guitarist and founding member Mat Brooke left the band to form Grand Archives, and the band has since moved from Seattle to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. After these changes, the group went to work recording in nearby North Carolina and released their sophomore effort, Cease to Begin, in October 2007. Both albums have been praised by fans and critics alike, and both albums have provoked endless comparisons between Bridwell's voice and that of Jim James, the frontman of My Morning Jacket.
Band of Horses' music has accompanied many of my late night drive homes on the backroads - I truly believe Bridwell's vocals sound the best when blaring from my car speakers with the windows down on a warm summer night. The band is currently working on their third album and launching an extensive tour that will take them from Carnegie Hall to Copenhagen and everywhere in between. There won't be windows to roll down next week in Manchester, but hopefully Tennessee will deliver that warm summer night.
"Is There a Ghost"
"Weed Party"
Band of Horses will play the Which Stage on Sunday from 6:30-8 p.m. Check out the full Bonnaroo schedule on the official Bonnaroo website.
