Brandon Butler - career in review

There's this guy, Brandon Butler, and I really like his music. Like, pretty much for the last decade I've been following this guy and I've always been a fan. It's funny, because it's like- as he's changed musically, so have I. Or visa versa. Not like he's influenced me to change, but like we've sort of grown up together. A new solo CD by him came in the mail the other week($3 on ebay- so much for supporting the artist) and I was working on my patio the other day and I was listening to that and then I just went through his entire catalog. Fantastic.

Boys Life- was a proto emo outfit in 90s that really informed my work with Til Seven. Dissonant, raw, emotive. Really shook my view of what music was, what a band is. In one song, he's basically just yelling "And the pictures on the flashcards help you study a lot. Gotta get 'em right." over and over again. Urgent, dischordant, simple. Brandon had B-O-Y-S L-I-F-E tattooed across his knuckles. Man I want a tattoo. Listen to Boys Life here.










The Farewell Bend- His next band, the Farewell Bend was just a less dissonant version of Boys Life. One record. Pretty good.








Canyon- Then there was Canyon. Man, they put out really great psych-country that was expansive and mindblowingly atmospheric and visual. Butler took a break from guitar and played lap steel and sang. Sitting down, you know. He played lap steel in sort of an amature style. Sort of like the way I played it in The Lyle Falls, like with no volume pedal, all single note/single string stuff. But it worked for Canyon. I got to see them right before they broke up. They went on tour opening for Jay Farrar (swoon) and then they would play as his backing band for his set. Two members of Canyon (drummer and keyboardist) became members of Son Volt after Canyon's demise. You can see Jill and my friend Dale in the DVD of that show.








Brandon Butler (solo)- OK. This guy put out a couple solo records and they're good. "Killer on the Road" is great. The new one, Lucky "Thumbs" is OK. Listen to Brandon Butler here.