Get your SOUTH 70 on !!
SOUTH 70 has been voted Top Country Band in Georgia by the readers of Atlanta Country Music.com! Thank you to all who voted for us!
SOUTH 70 is a scenic stretch of road that winds its way beyond Atlanta toward fresh, country air -- a bridge between the bustling urban scene and more laid-back rural ways.And it's the perfect name for a new country-rock band whose members may be city dwellers, but who know those two-lane blacktops carry them back to their roots.
Just a quick nine months after teaming up, SOUTH 70 has released their debut album, "Two Lane Road," an irresistibly upbeat set of 12 original songs that reflect both the raw talent and polished professionalism of its members.
Listen closely and there is an unmistakable sense of breaking loose in these tracks, a call to follow our dreams down whatever unknown path they may take us.
"With a bit of heart, just a bit of soul / With a bit of take the wheel and take control / She could change the light to green and give it a go.
She's gonna have to push / she's gonna have to shove / She's gonna have to pray a little more to God above / And those small town blues might not be all she'd know / It all started with a little dream on a two lane road. "
SOUTH 70's driving force includes veteran Atlanta drummer/songwriter Simone Simonton, who has played and co-written for Sugarland and her own critically acclaimed trio, Lift. Dynamo vocalist/songwriter Vanessa Olivarez, another early Sugarland collaborator rose to fame as a Top 12 finisher on Season 2 of American Idol.
Their budding partnership bloomed with the addition of singer/guitarist Geoff Reid, already a successful alt-country songwriter when he was recruited into the band.
The trio's chemistry was so strong that within a month, they'd composed 10 songs, bouncing ideas off each other and finishing each other's thoughts like lifelong kindred spirits.
Simonton says that the first time she heard Olivarez and Reid sing together, "Within ten minutes I had a lump in my throat."
"I think one of the reasons these songs are so good is that none of us ever got guarded with our ideas or got possessive with our songs. We all just brought them in and made them as good as they can be."
"There's never any missing puzzle pieces," Olivarez adds. "Everything just fits together perfectly, and when we write together, it ends up just falling into place. I've never been involved with anything where that's happened before. It's rare to find people that you just click that well with."
Maybe it's because their mutual admiration is so strong. Unabashed fans of each other's talent, they take turns heaping praise on Simonton's flawless drumming or Olivarez's irrepressible stage presence or Reid's soaring harmonies.
And all three heap praise on SOUTH 70's other players. Bassist Greg Lee was crucial in crafting SOUTH 70's tight arrangements, and Jeff "Tex" Gardner's electric guitar adds just the right bite to their sound. Mark Van Allen, a pedal steel guitar virtuoso, delivers layers of gorgeous country hooks, and a rockin' fiddle is played by one Jeff Spirko, who rounds out the band's dynamic performance lineup.
And rock is right at home in their music, with influences that embrace everything from the 70's Southern strains of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Eagles, to current country artists such as Keith Urban and Little Big Town.
"What we want to achieve is music that has a kind of timeless quality to it," Reid says, "something that sounds classic and almost old-fashioned but with a modern edge."
Trusting the past while believing in the future, that's what this band is about. With a bit of heart and just a bit of soul, South 70 is ready to give a nod over its shoulder and set out toward that next adventure beyond the bend in the road.
- Holly Crenshaw, Atlanta Journal Constitution 2006
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500 Songs For Kids is what we're participating in on May 8th at 7:40pm. Come show your love for the kids!
