King Calaway (USA)
King Calaway
Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Genre: Country, Country Pop, Country Rock
Record Label: Stoney Creek Records
Band members: Jordan Harvey, Chad Michael Jervis, Simon Dumas, Chris Deaton, Caleb Miller and Austin Luther
Discography: King Calaway EP (2019)
Contact:
Website: TBA
Six unique voices. Six top-notch instrumentalists. Three different countries. Featuring a half dozen musicians from both sides of the Atlantic, King Calaway is proof that there's strength in numbers.
Before coming together in 2018, bandmates Jordan Harvey, Chad Michael Jervis, Simon Dumas, Chris Deaton, Caleb Miller and Austin Luther all pursued their own solo careers, racking up a long list of milestones, including American Idol golden tickets, CMA Awards performances, international tours, session gigs, and BBC TV appearances along the way. They could all sing. They could all play. And one by one, they all found their way to Nashville, drawn to the city by its rich, diverse music scene.
That diversity reaches a new peak with King Calaway. A multi-national supergroup of harmony-singing, instrument-playing musicians, the band makes anthemic country music for the modern world. Songs like "World For Two" show the full range of their sound, mixing groove, grit and rootsy stomp in equal doses. In an age when music fans listen to everything, filling their playlists with songs from every corner of the musical spectrum, King Calaway is something new and fresh: a band that both embraces its country roots and reaches far beyond them.
There's no lead singer here. No singular star. Instead, Jordan, Chad and Simon all share frontman duties, backed by thick, multi-part harmonies from Chris, Caleb and Austin. The result is a layered vocal sound that nods to the band's influences, including the Eagles, Little Big Town, and Ed Sheeran. And just like the Eagles, every member of King Calaway is also an adept, well-rounded musician, from the guitar-playing Caleb — who became a professional studio musician at 13 years old — to Austin, a highly trained bassist who toured the world with multiple acts before joining King Calaway. Simon first earned an audience at home in Gibraltar, with his expressive piano playing and pop-oriented songwriting, while Jordan — a Scottish multi-instrumentalist who played drums before becoming one of King Calaway's main vocalists — played packed shows in London, Edinburgh, and beyond. And then there's Chad, a lifelong vocalist whose past includes theater productions and cross-country gigs, as well as Chris, who played drums for performances on the CMA Awards with artists such as Steven Tyler and Jennifer Nettles before keeping time for King Calaway.
Together, they're a group worthy of country-pop royalty. Maybe that's why it's so appropriate that they've found a lifelong champion in music-industry veteran Robert Deaton. Before serving as the band's producer and mentor, Deaton racked up a pair of Emmys for his work on multiple awards shows and hundreds of music videos. His approach to King Calaway's music is similarly cinematic. Working alongside co-producer Ross Copperman (who also penned several of the band's songs), he captures King Calaway's natural sound with broad, bold strokes, emphasizing real instruments and live performances. It's an organic approach to a dynamic sound — one that allows the band's chemistry to shine through clearly.
Hailing from across the globe, from the small towns of the American Midwest to the southern tip of Spain; from the Atlantic seaboard to the Central Belt of Scotland, King Calaway brings a worldly perspective to a genre that's previously been distinctly American. They're country stars for a new generation, singing songs that erase the boundaries between genres and countries. And if their lyrics avoid some of the genre's more clichéd calling cards — from truck tributes to alcohol-soaked party songs to short-sighted comments about women — then that's sort of the whole point. After all, these young men aren't looking to repeat the sounds of their youth. They aren't looking to blend into the crowd. They're not even looking to fit in. They're in the business of standing out and King Calaway stands tall.