Eli Young Band Plays Ozarks Amphitheater Following Overseas Show For Troops

Bassist Jon Jones, of Eli Young Band fame, talked to KIX 105.7 prior to the band’s show last weekend at the Ozarks Amphitheater. The Eli Young Band has made the Billboard charts eight times, including three number one hits. Their hit “Crazy Girl” was the top country song of 2011, according to Billboard’s Year-End chart. The group also includes vocalist and guitarist Mike Eli, guitarist James Young and drummer Chris Thompson.

The Eli Young Band released their first, self-titled, album in 2002. A second album, Level, was released in 2005. Numerous albums followed, but Life at Best propelled the band to stardom with the double-platinum single “Crazy Girl.”

“It is weird to think that it’s like five years to the week when ‘Crazy Girl,’ I guess, went gold,” Jones said. “It was for sure the biggest milestone we’ve had and put us on the larger map in country music.”

When it comes to picking songs for inclusion in the Eli Young Band’s albums, Jones says they never really know which songs will gain popularity.

“I think that when we’re picking, we always try to pick from the heart,” Jones said. “Sometimes it seems like the ones we’ve been really passionate about, and maybe some people at our label haven’t been, are the ones that have worked really, really well. We’re at a different label now so I can say that. There are some that haven’t worked so well but at the time seemed like really good decisions.”

Jones is surprised that “Crazy Girl” was the song that has proven most successful for the band.

“It had so many reasons why it shouldn’t have worked,” Jones said. “It’s calling someone crazy, which it’s not really, but you’ve got to listen to the lyrics and you’re like, ‘Oh, this is a very endearing song.’”

Curb Records artist Lee Brice co-wrote “Crazy Girl” with Liz Rose, a song writer for Taylor Swift.

“This was right around the time that Lee was having his first success on radio and he’s had a wonderful career since then. For some reason though, it wasn’t a song that his label was really wanting to make a single or put on a record. We were so happy to snatch it and really knew there was something there.”

According to Jones, artists helping each other are commonplace in country music.

“I think that’s why country is kind of like one big, happy family,” Jones said. “We’re prideful in our genre and maintaining truth to it.  I think we’re very humble and it’s a really great community that way.”

The Eli Young Band returned to America last week after spending time performing for U.S. troops in Germany. Jones says that when they formed the band in college, at the University of North Texas, he never thought it would result in them traveling the globe.

“We weren’t sure it was going to take us out of Denton, Texas,” Jones said. “We knew it was going to take us as far as Fort Worth and Dallas, but that was just a half-hour in each direction. Past that, it was a while before we started setting our sites on larger and larger things.”

While in Germany, the band performed for U.S. troops at the Ramstein Air Base. According to Jones, being able to do something for the military men and women is extremely important to the group.

“For us to be able to go play for the troops this past week was an amazing, amazing experience,” Jones said. “These are people that need a little piece of home. So, for us to be able to be that for them, it doesn’t get much better than that. The amount of pride that we had was great.”