Anyone like Collective Soul?

[jonathan180iq]

For my birthday this year, I went down to Athens to spend some time with my sister and her boyfriend at their apartment.
As part of the festivities, I wanted to find some good music and get myself a tattoo.

I happened to randomly chance upon a place called The Melting Pot and found that the band playing that night was called "Ed Roland & The Sweet Tea Project."

For those that don't know, Ed Roland is/was the lead singer for Collective Soul. I was more than excited, because their blue album was the first CD that I ever personally owned. Not only is the band a great blend of musicians, including Christopher Allen Yates and Tomi Martin, but Ed's voice hasn't changed at all, despite how white his hair has gotten over the years.

I'm going to promote them here for a minute, because they are kind of an up-and-coming thing and need some publicity. It's mostly a grassroots movement. And I think the fact that they are all kind of older and settled and established is allowing them the freedom to just play the music that comes out of them. It's bascially bluegrass and folk meets Collective Soul's post grunge sound. It's a really good blend of softer rock and some Southeast stylings.

I'm also going to brag. I hung out with these guys after the show for a good 45 minutes. They couldn't be more approachable and they really like the intimate, small-town, concert feel. There may have been only 60 people attending that night and they came over and approached me first. We talked, laughed, got an autographed copy of their EP, with the full album coming out sometime in April, and had a few drinks and jokes at the bar.

Anyway, this isn't motorcycle related, but I wanted to share: