On the stage of Rose Music Hall on Saturday, Sept. 16, Boy Named Banjo brought their sweet sound to the Columbia community. The band, which started over a decade ago in a Nashville high school parking lot, is set to release their major label debut album “Dusk on Sept. 29 after signing with Mercury Records Nashville in 2020.

“We just kept doing what we’re doing, and next thing you know, we’re a full-time professional band,” singer and guitarist William Reames said.

The nine-song album — which has been in the works since 2018 — will be released as the band continues on their tour across the U.S. “Dusk” highlights a night with the band “through hope and heartache,” according to the latest press release from Missing Piece Group. 

“Lonely In This Town,” was released on Aug. 18 as a single, and the band performed it in their show, Dusk ’Til Dawn, in Columbia on Saturday, Sept. 16, at the Rose Music Hall.

Reames and his high school buddy, Banjo Player Barton Davies, were the first two of the five-man band. Willard Logan joined the country-loving crew on the electric guitar and mandolin shortly after.

After graduating high school, Reames, Davies and Logan, as well as drummer Sam McCullough and bass player Ford Garrad, left home in Nashville to pursue their academic careers.

Despite juggling school work and performing on the weekends, Boy Named Banjo gained momentum over the years.

“First, it was just that we love to write music, and then we started playing a little bit just at our friends’ houses,” Reames said. “And then they kind of encouraged us to keep doing it, and we’re playing shows and just kind of never stopped.”

And Boy Named Banjo hasn’t stopped. Starting in 2016, the band toured professionally with performers like Brothers Osborne, Kip Moore and Darrell Scott. 

But, it’s not all screaming crowds and flashing lights. For Boy Named Banjo, a lot of the hard work happens behind the scenes. 

“I would say that being in a band is not what a lot of people think, it’s a ton of work,” Reames said. “Honestly, the part where you actually get to play on a stage is such a small, small part of the business.”

After recording their EP, “Circles,” in their friend’s garage, Boy Named Banjo performed in three “spur-of-the-moment” showcases that caught the attention of Mercury Records Nashville. The showcases led to Boy Named Banjo signing their record deal in 2020, though it took a while “for everything to get lined up”, according to Reames, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even during this lull, Boy Named Banjo continued to work. 

“We started just writing and writing and writing [during the pandemic], so we had this huge stockpile of songs,” Reames said.

During this time, Boy Named Banjo took the time to hone their sound, meeting in makeshift studios to play and experiment with songs. The band set up their equipment in an old church to record their 2022 single “Heart in Motion.” 

Other songs were recorded in these non-traditional studios, such as “Young Forever,” a song that will be on “Dusk.”

“That’s the interesting part of the project — everything feels cohesive even though it was recorded in different places and times,” Reames said.

With each new single, EP or album release, Boy Named Banjo continues to gain momentum, with 212.9 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify.

“It allows you to be grateful and look back and see how far you’ve come,” Reames said. “Definitely makes us appreciative of the journey.”

Boy Named Banjo began their next journey at the beginning of September with their 27-show tour, Dusk ’Til Dawn, in Atlanta, eventually stopping in Columbia.

MOVE Reporter Jae Green reviews the Boy Named Banjo concert at Columbia’s Rose Music Hall on Saturday, Sept. 16. 

Walking into Rose Music Hall, the dim lighting over the room highlighted the small, intimate space. Once Band Named Banjo came out on stage, the crowd was ready. When McCullough started on drums and Logan on the electric guitar, I could feel the beat radiating throughout the wood flooring during each song, prompting me to want to jump up and down.

My favorite song they performed was “Circles,” which was released in 2021. The fast-paced rhythm feels like you are going in circles while also listening to the lyrics. Even though “Circles” is a song I was clapping and singing loudly along to, it still impacted me as a listener, making me remember past relationships in the lyrics, “Like clockwork I start thinking ‘bout / What you’re doing now,” blurring the line between what someone should and shouldn’t do to forget an ex. Then they question if they will ever get out of this bad habit of singing, “Am I ever going to get out?” 

Not one member of Boy Named Banjo was singing or playing an instrument by himself, allowing multiple instruments to blend their sound to create something amazing. Their engagement with the Columbia audience made the performance fun to watch. As they took the stage, I noticed the different age ranges throughout the crowd that were swaying along to Boy Named Banjo songs — in the front row, a group of young college girls dressed in long dresses and cowboy boots; a few rows behind them, an older couple. 

Boy Named Banjos’ songs reach a broad audience, and from hearing them perform for the Columbia crowd, I am excited to see what accomplishments come from their upcoming album.

“That’s the thing with this career; once you hit one milestone, it’s on to the next thing, and so with each little bit of success that we find, it just makes us more hungry to keep grinding and pushing to hit some other milestones,” Reames said.

Edited by Annie Goldman | agoldman@themaneater.com

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