WHISKEY MYERS:

MORE THAN JUST ‘YELLOWSTONE’ BAND PROMISES MUSICAL TWISTS WITH NEW ALBUM, SAVANNAH SHOW

By Alan Sculley

From the first notes of the song “Tornillo,” which opens the album of the same name that Whiskey Myers released last July, it’s apparent that some new musical twists are in store from the veteran band.

Horn parts straight out of a spaghetti western open the song, before it segues into the next track, “John Wayne,” and the kind of crunchy mix of rock and country that has come to define the Whiskey Myers sound emerges.

And on several of the other songs – most notably on the aforementioned “John Wayne,” “Antioch,” “Feet’s” and “Mission To Mars” – robust horn lines and female backing vocals bring new dimensions without altering the core sound of the band.

But don’t assume that the additional instrumentation and vocals were some big calculated move.

“We never really do that much thinking about it. Usually we just go in and make a record,” Cody Cannon, Whiskey Myers’ frontman and main songwriter, explained in a recent phone interview. “This time, it was a little bit different. We’d been wanting to do horns for awhile. I guess during the writing process, I was hearing like horns and stuff behind certain sounds. It was in the back of my mind. So I guess that was different this time. We try not to put that much thought into it, trying to find the perfect sound. But I knew on this record I didn’t want to do the same thing. I wanted to do something different.”

That rather spontaneous approach to making music has served Whiskey Myers well throughout a career that now stretches back 15 years and six albums.

Formed in 2007 in Palestine, Texas, the band – singer/guitarist Cannon, guitarist John Jeffers, guitarist Cody Tate, drummer Jeff Hogg and bassist Gary Brown (replaced in 2017 by Jamey Gleaves) – wasted little time getting their career started. In 2008, Whiskey Myers released their debut album, “Road of Life,” and began playing shows in Dallas and on the Texas red dirt country scene.

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TOTO (continued from previous page)

Over the next eight years, the band toured extensively, made a well-received studio album, “Toto XIV,” as well as several live releases, and then got an unexpected boost in 2018 when Weezer covered the band’s signature hit, “Africa.”

“When we play that song (now), everybody’s up, like it’s a soccer game,” Williams said. “So that’s our calling card and we’re grateful to Weezer for doing it and putting it in the ears of a younger generation, and also (to) the fans of Toto from when those songs were actually on the air, their kids are fans of it.”

Despite the renewed momentum, tensions over the lawsuit and between band members led to the 2019 breakup.

With COVID sidelining all live music, Lukather, Williams and Paich each made solo albums, before regrouping the current edition of Toto and returning to touring last year.

Williams is hoping for another long run with Toto. Lukather has ruled out making new albums as Toto, but the singer isn’t closing the door on anything going forward.

“We’ll see how it evolves. I understand how Luke feels just because if there were to really be a Toto album, we’d have to have the participation from particular people,” Williams said. “The way we’ve been doing it is Luke’s putting out a new album that we did last year. Dave put out an album. These sort of mini-Toto albums, you have to sort of throw them all together and get the (Toto) experience that way. It’s understandable, but like I say, never say never. We’re not old, old men yet. We’re just sub-elderly, so there’s plenty of time to change minds and do stuff.”

Toto plays Enmarket Arena on Wed. Feb. 8 as part of the Journey and Toto Freedom Tour 2023. For information and tickets, visit enmarketarena.com