Eli Young Band Feel ‘Reborn’ Thanks to First No. 1 Hit in Six Years
The country music business can be fickle and cruel. A group such as the Eli Young Band has gone from having a year-defining, award-winning hit with 2011's "Crazy Girl" to relatively moderate success within the same decade.
At the risk of dismissing the group's lucrative years as a touring act, band namesakes Mike Eli (vocals, guitar) and James Young (guitar), and their bandmates Jon Jones (bass) and Chris Thompson (drums), surely missed a certain natural high since their last No. 1, the 2013 radio chart-topper "Drunk Last Night." That six-year drought ended in May, however, with "Love Ain't," a brand-new song from This Is Eli Young Band: Greatest Hits.
"We’ve been in the industry long enough to know that there’s no guarantees," Eli told The Boot at Country Jam 2019 in Grand Junction, Colo. "So as it kind of creeped into the Top 10, we got more and more excited. Once it hit No. 2, we were like, ‘Dear Lord, what’s going to happen next?’ It finally hit No. 1, and it feels like a rebirth.”
The Eli Young Band stayed the course in between No. 1 hits the old-fashioned way, playing live and recording material that was always up to snuff for the Texas garage band-turned-mainstream country music hitmakers.
To follow "Love Ain't," the Eli Young Band have released a new single, "Break It In." They tell Taste of Country that the new song is all about the time, patience and work it takes to get something -- like a perfectly fitting pair of blue jeans -- just right.
"I think after 20 years of being a band, we're feeling like we're just now getting this thing right ..." Young says. "Sometimes the best things have a few dents and take some time."