Page 87 - Erath

now pushing their frst full-length album, “Running on Seven,” recorded in Fort Worth at Fort Worth Sound. “This album has done very, very well for us,” said the band’s manager Chase Yarborough. “They’ve already sold about 1,200 copies so we’re very excited about that. It’s just been fun. It’s been a long, hard trip, but everybody’s enjoyed the ride, that’s for sure.” “If it's up to us, this will be a much, much longer road,” adds Josh. Their latest single from the album “Man Alive” topped out at No. 17 on the Texas Country charts and another, “Silence and Me,” is due for release January 2011.

Clayton and Ben, along with their onstage duties, are also the primary writers for the band’s material. “That’s kind of the way I fell in love with music,” Ben said, “listening to songwriters like Guy Clark and Jerry Jeff Walker and Townes Van Zandt. Those guys really turned me on to lyrics. A lot of times I’ll have an idea and (Clayton) will take off with it, or he’ll have an idea and I’ll come up with a verse or a bridge, and the next thing you know you have a fnished song.”

If the charts are an accurate indication, their collaboration has already been successful. “We co-wrote our last single, ‘Man Alive,’” Clayton said. “I wrote the frst verse and the chorus and he wrote the second verse.

The band has two years of roadwork behind them, along with the album released in early 2010. While each member is pleased with the result of their labor in the studio, they all still enjoy playing to an audience.

“I love the idea of both venues,” Clayton said admitting he gets stressed while working on records. “It’s very time consuming and you have to make it right, but you know you’re in there for a good thing. I enjoy the whole professional feeling about recording, but I also really enjoy the live thing. It can be laid out on the table, really unplanned. I enjoy the live shows to get the immediate response.”

Ben, who besides playing bass, picks a banjo and occasionally a mandolin, is happy in either spot. “I like them about the same,” he said. “With the live show, it’s so spontaneous. Something can happen that’s really cool. Something could happen that’s really bad, too, but it’s never going to happen that way again.” “I like the studio because of the creative energy,” Ben said. “Sometimes you can capture those kinds of moments and you’ve got that moment forever.”

As would be expected with a diverse group of talented individuals, there are a lot of infuences at play when Six Market Blvd. takes the stage.

“My dad raised me on old rock and roll and the blues like the Black Crowes and Stevie Ray Vaughan,” Clayton cited. “There’s also the old classic country music I heard as a small child – Buck Owens, Marty Robbins. Then you’ve got your 90s main stream country which I miss a lot.”

With a schedule that includes between three and fve shows most weeks, all of the band members are full time musicians.