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Four
Year Bender
Since
it’s inception in early 2002, Four Year Bender has
been one of the most talked about bands in the Bay Area,
garnering lavish praise from music fans and critics alike.
They have played every major venue in San Francisco including
The Fillmore, Great American Music Hall, and the heralded
“Hardly Strictly Bluegrass” Festival in Golden
Gate Park.
Local
radio giant KFOG has lent full support by giving them
regular spins, and featuring them in their upcoming “Locals
Scene CD”; promotion of which included a live performance
on The KFOG Morning Show. In addition, Four Year Bender
is featured in two KFOG sponsored concerts this summer,
one with Boston based Wheat and another with Americana
giants Calexico.
While
Four Year Bender’s live shows are quickly becoming
legendary it is their debut album which got the whole
thing started. The title, "Lucky", couldn't
be more straight forward. According to principal songwriter/vocalist
Ryan Smith, "....I've been fortunate to build a very
strong cast of musician friends over the years and they
made this record an absolute pleasure to make. Recording
can be frustrating and tedious but the further we got
along in this one the more I felt like a lucky man. It's
also the name of the street I live on".
This
straight-ahead approach comes through in the music as
well, and although great lengths were taken in the way
of keeping it simple things don't always go as planned.
What started out as a nice little acoustic diversion from
Ryan's nationally touring rock band Boomshanka, quickly
exploded into a full length monster with just about everyone
he knew participating in some shape or form.
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