Homegrown

When you hear "Homegrown," what comes to mind? Do you think of something tended year after year with patience and love? Maybe a crop, an idea, or a way of life that, after years of cultivation, rewards dedication with something precious? When they settled on the name "Homegrown Band" in the spring of 2011, members Craig Brannon, Kevin Brannon, Jason Cole, Megan Blair, and Nick Ivey hoped their fans would associate them and their music with that sentiment. "As we were writing and branding ourselves," says Jason, "we found that the recurring theme was 'home'--our home, the South--and its culture, value system, and way of life. We were invoking the place and the things that our parents, their parents, and, generations later, we believed to be important enough to build our lives around. While ideas like fidelity, the virtue in hard work, and the necessity of faith are quickly being written off as old-fashioned, they've been cultivated in us, and we think that they're vital enough to write and sing about." The band's down-home image and songs about life as they know it enjoyed success from the start. In early 2012, HB released their first album, a self-titled EP recorded at Skaggs Family Studios in Nashville, TN and produced by Homegrown Band and Jason Singleton of Red Hill Entertainment. The album's first and only single, "This Ol' Truck," was featured on 94.9 The Bull's Backyard Country for three weeks. Says Craig of the record's success, "It was unprecedented. We were just starting up, had maybe a thousand fans on social media, and very little exposure. It was incredible to compete with more established artists like Colt Ford and Jake Owen and hang in there. We felt validated; we were relying completely on the strength of the song and holding our own." After touring for months in West and South Georgia, metro Atlanta, and East Alabama and opening for artists like Corey Smith and Ashton Shepherd in support of the EP, the band recorded, produced, and released its second single, "Enjoy The Ride," in late 2013. Initially, the song was given away as a free download at the band's shows. After a few months, the band noticed the song's growing popularity among their fans and placed it in rotation on The Bull's Backyard Country. "This past week [Saturday, December 28, 2013] was the song's sixth week on the air," states Kevin. "We're consistently doing well on [Backyard Country], which is great. To me, it proves we've got a dedicated following in our area. We know it takes a lot for people to drop what they're doing and vote for us week after week; but, they are, and we couldn't be more excited about that." Homegrown Band is planning to release a second album tentatively titled 'Summer Song' in the spring of 2014. The record will feature new songs that the band has been writing and performing over the course of their 2013 tour schedule