My San Antonio – In Search for the Common Chord

July 10, 2014 – Ed Jurdi of The Band of Heathens describes the art of songwriting as a way to connect with people with big-picture ideas that strike a common chord.
“Everybody sees the world through a different lens, but when you’re writing about those things you’re able to communicate your experiences with people who don’t know you at all,” he said. “The magic about music, literature and films is that other people have been through those things.
“When you can listen to what somebody has done, understand where they’ve been, understand that they have loved before or miss somebody or they want to be somewhere else, it lets us feel a little less alone in the world.”
The Band of Heathens will perform on Friday with Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real at Sam’s Burger Joint.
The band’s fourth studio album, last year’s “Sunday Morning Record,” captured some of the trials and travails of lineup changes, births of children, separations on the road and moving Jurdi’s family to Asheville, North Carolina, from Austin, where he’d lived for eight years.
Jurdi, Gordy Quist and Colin Brooks — all songwriters with solo albums — joined together after sitting in on each other’s sets to form the band that soon would be known for pleasing harmonies, powerful wide-ranging lyrics and an American roots blend of country, rock, blues, R&B, gospel and soul that won honors as best new band at the Austin Music Awards.
Their self-titled debut studio album in 2008 and 2009’s “One Foot in the Ether” both shot to No. 1 on the national Americana charts.
While touring to support the 2011 album “Top Hat Crown and the Clapmaster’s Son,” Brooks left to pursue new projects. Founding member/bassist Seth Whitney and drummer John Chipman soon followed. Only keyboardist Trevor Nealon stayed on.
Jurdi and Quist took stock of the situation and moved forward, recruiting Richard Millsap on drums and Scott Davis on bass.
“The new guys were sympathetic with the vibe and they brought a new energy and fresh inspiration,” Jurdi said. “I can’t articulate how it affected the sound; it’s an esoteric thing. But when you figure out how to work with people when playing music, you just do what sounds good.”
Jurdi said the band continued to evolve, and he and Quist did as collaborators, writing songs that entertain and move themselves while trying to mine new territory.
“’Sunday Morning Record’ is a snapshot of time, like all our records have been, but it’s a little more introspective,” Jurdi said. “It runs the gamut from joy to sorrow, to pain, longing and redemption during the time period when that stuff was happening.
“Movement and transition also are big themes — people changes, geography changes, life changes.”
He said the response from fans has been great. New songs that stand out before the crowds include “Shotgun,” about living through a bitter breakup; the upheaval-strewn “Miss My Life”; and “Shake the Foundation,” about betrayals.
Meanwhile, they’re compiling material for the next album.
“We’re finishing songs, getting them in working condition and then we’ll look at what we have,” Jurdi said. “If I had to guess, it will be more up-tempo than ‘Sunday Morning Record,’ more rock ‘n’ roll. We won’t really know until we get the songs together in the studio.”
One thing’s a given, though — the songs will work that lyrical magic to connect with listeners.
john@johngoodspeed.com