Appreciating Dad’s advice and their new Ameripolitan family
| The Reeves Brothers |
If you’re gonna play in Texas - following the advice offered in the Alabama hit song and having a fiddle in the band certainly wouldn’t hurt but, as The Reeves Brothers have discovered, having an Ameripolitan Award in your trophy cabinet can provide a very useful advantage too.
The winners of the 2018 Best Honky Tonk Group category have found themselves very much in demand in the Lone Star State, clocking up between six and seven thousand miles a month (yes, a month) getting to engagements from their Nevada base. In fact they reckon their diary now has almost double the number of bookings than would have been the case before their win.
Matt and Cole Reeves are no strangers to the Country Music side of show business. Their father Jack was an Academy of Country Music nominee and would bring colleagues like Eddy Drake and Clarence White back to the house frequently. Growing up in that environment instilled in the boys an appreciation of the art of putting on a good show.
“In the whole of our career” Matt told me, “I think only three or four venues have not invited us back.”
I asked if the live show varied much from venue to venue and it seems every night is different. “We don’t have a set list” Matt admitted, “so we love it when people yell out requests, it makes our job easier.”
Bands have to earn their money at these venues, “Lil’ Reds in Forth Worth TX have us play four hours straight with no break, but that’s not typical. Mostly we play ninety minutes, take a fifteen minute break and then play for another hour and a half”.
Whilst the boys were brought up with that family tradition of good country music they also regard the folks around the Ameripolitan movement as “family”. 2018 was their first visit to Awards weekend as the boys explained “We were fortunate that the first year we got nominated we won. By the time the show came round we didn’t care one bit about winning because we had met so many great people and had such a wonderful time.”
The response to my assumption that an Ameripolitan Award might be a good step on the ladder of success did impress me. It is not a ladder in the minds of The Reeves Brothers, they see this win as providing the foundation upon which they can now build through hard work and persistence. They regard a Grammy or, if mainstream country were ever to revert back to their style of music, an ACM or CMA Award as being the pinnacle they should aim for.
“But that’s a whole lot of wishful thinking” is the observation accompanying that ambition.
The band’s 2017 album King Of Country Music and their 2016 release Home Sweet Honky Tonk are both available through the website www.thereevesbrothers.comand will go a long way towards explaining why these guys were successful in Memphis last February; to fully understand though you probably need to see their well presented and energetic stage show. Certainly if you are planning a trip to the USA and notice The Reeves Brothers are playing in the city you’re visiting they are well worth going to see. Matt and Cole are nice guys, tell them you are over from the UK and I guarantee they will make you welcome.
The Reeves Brothers would dearly love to play some British and/or European dates but, at time of writing, no firm plans have been made. Promoters – these guys will do two ninety minutes sets of Award winning and very authentic country music, what are you waiting for?
