Tide Is Changing at The Next Great American Band

It took a few weeks, but we finally said goodbye to Light of Doom. It was looking like it could end up in a Sanjaya situation, as while they are extremely talented for a group of 12 and 13 year old boys, there were older bands that were better, having more experience … and facial hair as well. With the boys going back home to their skateboards and XBoxes, who does that leave us with? Who will it be that’s crowned The Next Great American Band?

Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, the big band with a jazzy sound, have to be a longshot to win the big one here. They’re polished, they’re good, and they’re different, but I’m not seeing the bigger audience residing with them. Look them up on iTunes and you’ll see they have several CDs out already. So what does that say about them? Either they don’t know how to market themselves or they’re simply not marketable. Dicko and John were trying to tell them that very thing this week, that while they’re an extremely good live performance band, it’s probably not going to translate to selling records. They have a lot of fun, and that’s their main appeal. I just can’t see them doing any better than third, though, at best.

The early on favorite has been Sixwire, a country band. They’ve been trying so long to make it in this business, that the lead singer’s kids are in a band as well. Apparently they weren’t quite seasoned enough, as they didn’t even garner a Las Vegas audition. While the parent group Sixwire is a hard-rocking country band, early on they picked up a different type of genre of music because of the lead singer’s affinity for being easy on the eyes. He looks like a flashback to the 80s as a cross between Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins. All of this caused them to pick up the moniker from Dicko as The Housewives’ Favorites. They seemed to be everyone’s favorites for awhile, and seemed to do no wrong, but when no one was paying attention, someone else seems to have snuck in front of them.

That sneaky band is The Clark Brothers, another country band that has a much more downhome sound, and less electronic, than Sixwire. The brothers grew up playing music as a family, backing up their preacher father. Because of this, they seem to look at music almost like a religion, and anyone in it with them is like family. They seem to feel it so deep down inside of them, no matter if they’re singing a gospel song or something by the Rolling Stones. Lead singer Ashley has an intensity he seems to put into everything, even if it’s a soft, mellow tune. It’s because of all this that the brothers seemed to have snuck up to being in the lead in the competition. Suddenly, they’re the most exciting of the final three. Even Dicko said this week that it was them that had him not minding traveling back and forth to Australia every week.

So just who is going to win the first, and very possibly only, season of The Next Great American Band? In a season full of very shocking eliminations, if Denver and the Mile High Orchestra won, it would be the last very shocking moment of the season. They’re both good and different, but just not engaging enough for the win, I’m afraid. Sixwire has been the favorite since the beginning, and I still wouldn’t be surprised see them take home the prize, as sometimes the winner of these shows goes to the least likely to to cause waves. They’re not really different, but they are really good. It does leave you wondering what the missing link is for them to be around this long and still not make it. That’s why my money is on The Clark Brothers. They’re good, different, engaging, and young still. I think they’re the ones that have the whole package that we’re looking for to be the Next Great American Band.

If you look at those last four words, The Clark Brothers are the ones that spell that out the best.

Comments about the results? Contact me at LauraBelle@sofachip.com

For more information on The Next Great American Band, see SirLinksalot: The Next Great American Band.