"Honest Country":The Everybodyfields
Tennessee Country Band Hits Home with Down-to-Earth Music
Oct 19, 2008
The Everybodyfields, straight out of Johnson City, TN, exhibit a sound quality that goes above and beyond most independent bands. With influences like Gillian Welsh, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young, the group manages to pull off the true meaning of “Country” without being obnoxiously twangy.
Because of their ability to transcend several genres without losing integrity, The Everybodyfields appeal to a wide variety of audiences, including the sometimes-hard-to-please college music snobs. Embodying what few new mainstream acts fail to achieve, their self-proclaimed label of “honest country” is suitably unpretentious and very much deserved.
Musical Breakdown
Largely, what makes The Everybodyfields so remarkable is the earthy yet yearningly fluent combination of Jill Andrews’s and Sam Quinn’s vocals. Both Andrews and Quinn are in possession of a set of lungs so sustainably brilliant that even major-label artists would be hard-pressed to match. Additionally, these front musicians trade off on instruments mid-performance, attesting both to their musical diversity and the friendly cohesiveness of the members.
Despite Quinn and Andrew’s dynamic voices, The Everybodyfields would not be complete without the instrumental backing of Josh Oliver on keyboard and electric guitar, Jamie Cook on percussion, and Tom Pryor on the pedal steel. Oliver’s key work is less ferocious but just as impressive as his majestic black beard, while Cook’s relatively modest appearance is only at partial odds with his subtle rhythmic fluidity. Pryor, while perhaps slightly resembling an undertaker, is far from lifeless on the steel as he holds the group together with that signature country-western sound.
For First Timers
To appropriately introduce one’s self into the poetically frank glory of the Everybodyfields, their latest album, Nothing is Ok, is a fantastic choice to start off with. “Aeroplane”, a wistfully alluring yet realistic expression, showcases everything that is worth loving about the group. “Wasted Time”, a regretful vision of a love song, is a tribute to Andrew’s remarkable voice. Quinn takes his share of the spotlight with the brutally lonely “Be Miner” with nothing but a slight guitar accompaniment.
Plague of Dreams, their 2005 release, throbs in a slightly different vein. “By Your Side” is an acoustically upbeat admission of willingness to leave everything known behind just for the sake of being with someone. Perhaps one of the more traditional Western pieces, “Baby Please”, featuring a vitally stirring fiddle, is a ditty just demanding a night out at the local Honky Tonk. Sweetly optimistic, with whispers of that infamous fiddle, “Good to be Home” speaks of just that—how good it is to be headed home after a long journey on the road.
Final Words
One of the undeniably endearing traits of this group is their ability to hit a nerve in even the most weathered souls. The Everybodyfields put to music what many have put to living. Hard times, good times, and those times when you just want to curl up under a rock—nothing is spared from their refreshingly raw repertoire. For someone looking for a good cry or company with a bottle of Jack, one would be hard-pressed to find a better companion on those long nights in a lonely motel room.
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