Six Things You Need To Know About…
Whiskey Myers
The small-town Texans have taken their brand of southern rock storytelling across the globe, and even to prestige TV.
Authenticity: you can’t buy it, you can’t bluff it. And you can’t beat it when it comes to delivering dirty, down-home, electric guitar music from the American south. Whiskey Myers have been keeping it real since the band got together in 2007. Channelling a musical heritage that stretches from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Waylon Jennings, they painstakingly built a following, song by song, gig by gig. Their enduring passion and commitment to their regional roots continues to shine through on their fifth album, a magnificent compendium of southern rock storytelling simply titled Whiskey Myers.
They come from deep in the heart of Texas. The original members come from “a bunch of small towns” in Anderson County including Palestine (population 18,712), Grapeland (1,857), Slocum (198) and Neches (178).
“We all grew up together since we were kids,” says lead guitarist John Jeffers.
“You don’t do a lot around Palestine unless you work for Walmart or you’re part of the prison system,” says lead singer Cody Cannon. “All of my family work in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.”
They are real southern men. Whiskey Myers’ breakthrough hit Ballad Of A Southern Man (from their 2011 album Firewater) gave an unapologetic account of the backwoods lifestyle: ‘I still fly that Southern flag, whistling Dixie loud enough to brag…’
“There’s nothing wrong with being proud of where you’re from,” Cannon says. “Some songs are autobiographical when it’s called for, some are fictional. But they’re all true to things that you see around you. It’s true about your life, or of someone else’s life going on that you can see.”
They’ve had three albums in the US country chart, but don’t call them a country band. “We’re not necessarily a country band or a rock band or a red dirt band or an anything band,” Jeffers says, a little wearily. “We don’t like to be pigeonholed. We’ve been doing our own thing for twelve years. But as long as people buy a ticket and come to the show, they can call us what the hell they want.”
They played – and acted – in Yellowstone with Kevin Costner. Whiskey Myers were filmed performing in a bar as part of a storyline for the top-rated US TV series Yellowstone. When the first episode was screened, in July 2018, nearly two million viewers crashed the internet looking for music by the band, and their last album, Mud, went straight to No.1 on the iTunes country chart the following week.
“I’d say it was life-changing for us,” Cannon says. “Our platform before that was just playing shows. We never had any major radio play or record deals, so we never had the opportunity to get in front of that many people. It was good being part of the experience and getting to be behind the scenes. You see how they do stuff.”
They opened for the Rolling Stones. Whiskey Myers have opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top, and played to huge crowds at Download festivals in Donington and Paris, but nothing beats opening for the Rolling Stones at Soldier Field in Chicago in June this summer.
“They’re one of our favourite bands of all time,” Cannon says. “We all look up to them.”
Did you tell Mick Jagger about the lyric to the new Whiskey Myers song Die Rockin (‘I felt a woman’s breast and heard Sway by the Stones’)?
“No, I kept quiet about that. It was more ‘Yes sir, no sir.’ Just the fact they took the time to meet us and take a picture was good enough for me.”
They were raised by wolves. ‘I was raised by the wolves in the woods, not the streets,’ Cannon sings in Glitter Ain’t Gold.
“It’s kinda hard to explain,” Jeffers says. “There’s no bullshit and you practise what you preach. It’s just the way we were raised.”
“Have you seen The Jungle Book?” Cannon asks. “I grew up howling.”
Whiskey Myers is out on September 27 via Snakefarm Records.