Additional Details

Additional details

Been Together Since: 2005

Sounds Like: Simple melodies, intricate guitar work, beautiful keys brought together in the context of rock.

Members

Taylor Lee -- guitar, vocals
Darin Lee -- bass
Chris Ginsbach -- drums
Brandon Elam -- vocals, guitar
Kris Becker -- keys

MP3S

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Clock Radios

Audio Interview

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Track #1

Discography

The Literary Greats, 2007

Where To Buy

• iTunes
• Rhapsody
• CD Baby

Review

"The Literary Greats'' sounds like a band name conceived by obnoxious book twits. You know the type: people who boast about reading Proust while everyone else in the room is talking Stephen King.

But it wasn't. It was a phrase written into a song by a perfectly nice guy who doesn't read all that much.

``We are not avid readers, by any means,'' singer Brandon Elam says with an easy laugh.

``The other two guys in the band don't read at all,'' guitarist Taylor Lee says.

Elam and Lee do admit to having a thing for poetry, which you will hear in the band's self-titled debut album, released last year.

``(Brandon) says he comes up with the lighter side of the music, and that might be true with just the music, but he has deep, depressing lyrics: `I think about emptiness in the morning time with clock radios and miniblinds,' '' Lee says, quoting disc opener Clock Radios.

At the most recent Westheimer Block Party, Elam, onstage at Numbers with the band, said, "Has anyone ever been to a poetry chat room? I have."

It was sort of a book-twit thing to do, mentioning a poetry chat room in the middle of a Montrose music festival, but really it's just the beginning of a story of not measuring up.

"I wanted to share my poetry, and I found this chat room, and it was generally high school students writing about how they're going to kill themselves. I decided to put one of my poems on there, and they didn't really have any feedback. They did reply, though: `That's good, you're doing good. You're just not there yet, but nice try.' "

Elam and Lee met while volunteering at a local church, recording and mixing music.

"Recording is a passion for the both of us. We started talking shop a little bit. We've both been in and out of bands our entire lives, and I remember we just swapped material. I completely loved his stuff," Lee says.

"Then we just started writing together," Elam adds. "Since we both had access to a studio, we started recording. And then he added his brother, Darin, and I added a drummer, Chris Ginsbach (formerly of Sly Letter), I knew from college."

The Literary Greats sport a comfortable, Americana-pop sound that's picking up momentum locally.

Hipster country, let's call it, with shades of the Old 97's (especially on Devotion), the Jayhawks (Rach179) and a dash of Fountains of Wayne (New York, Not Her).

What makes the Greats greater than many of its local peers are the lovely vocal harmonies between Elam and Lee.

"I love the band America," Lee says. "They had really good harmonies. There's some songs where Brandon and I sing the entire time together, and for me it just works."

"I hate my voice, so I'd rather Taylor sing with me," Elam says. "I'm really self-conscious about it. I know the flaws in it. I have a hard time classifying myself as a singer. You watch American Idol? No way, I cannot sing like that."

Lee, with his excitable, Jack Black-like charm, calls Idol singers "vocal ninjas."

"But I'm still not going to buy any of their records," he says.

Speaking of buying records, the Literary Greats aren't gaining momentum just in Houston, they have inexplicably found fans in Madrid, Spain, of all places.

"There are bloggers talking about us there," Elam says. "We're on two radio stations, we're in Rock and Roll Circus, which is a well-known record store in downtown Madrid. These music lovers found our music on CDBaby.com, bought one, and they all started sharing it. Next thing you know we're selling records to Madrid. More than we sell here."

"We get playlists where we're being played next to Wilco and Ryan Adams," Lee says. "That's so goofy! It's like it's one of our friends playing a joke on us."

-- Sara Cress | June 5, 2008