Deeper Digs in Rock: The Band of Heathens

Happy New Year Diggers! Welcome to the new Pantheon Media!

Our first DDIR show of 2019 is a discussion with an up and coming Americana outfit out of Austin, Texas, called The Band of Heathens.

The Rock N Roll Archaeologist sits down with founding member, Ed Jurdi to discuss the origins of the band and their newest album, a re-imagining of Ray Charles’ 1972 political record “A Message from the People”.

Ed tells us given the current political climate in America, he and the band wanted to comment without being overt or preachy. They looked to Brother Ray for inspiration and decided since you can’t out genius the great man, perhaps you could recreate it for a new generation. And that is just what they did.

A Message From The People Revisited is a song-for-song cover of the 1972 album by Charles that mingled songs of protest with songs of patriotic pride. Co-founder Ed Jurdi tells us that he and the band admired the album’s balance of the light and the dark.

It’s also important to note that original producer, Quincy Jones has become a champion of the Heathens’ performance, saying, “It’s a great interpretation.”

So let’s begin 2019!

https://www.bandofheathens.com