Highly Likely are a super group of sorts. Five people from different bands converging into one folky bluegrassy super group. The members are: Andy Tracy (percussion, harmonica, vocals formerly of Blue Caboose), Brian Bowling (banjo and member of Twig&leaf), Char Bowling (guitar, vocals, and also of Twig&Leaf), Jeff Roades (bass, vocals, and a troubadour), and Mark Miller (mandolin, vocals). There's your introduction, and now the record. On top of being great musician’s they are also some pretty great people, I believe that needs to be said because well, it's true.
So as I found myself battling my own inner demons through this rollercoaster of quar Highly Likely swooped in like a breath of fresh air. Like when you roll your window all the way down for the first time after being holed up all winter and you feel the breeze on your face, like that. That’s the feeling I get listening to them. They're keeping things simple lyrically which hit me first. They aren't complicated topics or arranged in a way that goes over your head. The arrangements musically aren't much different but different, nonetheless.
The album feels like a road trip album. This is a record you put on while you have the time in the car to just cruise. Maybe no destination at all just go and see where you end up, because like they say all they want "is to see somebody smile." Right now, in our current reality, we could really use something to make us smile. This record does that. On my couch I can pretend my four-door stallion and I are riding off to somewhere we've never been. Simply to see faces going from town to town. Then back on the dirt concreted over though.
They're music is a nice respite from all the crazy happening. And in the context of today's reality these ten songs are a welcomed relief. I'm not much for the news, but I am aware of what’s happening, and this album took me somewhere out of my head and into somewhere far off. On their song "Clouds" just close your eyes and let the music do what it was intended to do, escape. I had the feeling while listening to the record of an old western but modern day, and simply closing my eyes and drifting off to somewhere I can't even really describe because I don't know where it was. It just had all of the elements that make me, me. And, maybe quar is making me sound this way, but this record was just fun. It was just refreshing, and I apologize for saying just a lot but Highly Likely found did it. They carried me away.
If you can reach out to them, they are on all the social medias, and they have a website as well. Reach out to them because this record might help with putting a smile on your face through these holed up times. Music is powerful, and they Highly Likely along with many other folks like them could use the support. Hope you dear reader find the album and take a listen or seventeen, and hope you enjoy it as much as I did if not more.
