Goodbye June with Mamadrones

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Goodbye June

There’s a distinctively rootsy Americana vibe that snakes its way through the Hard Rock volume of Goodbye June, like a lazy southern river. But even when the Nashville, Tenn.-based quintet charts an acoustic course, the powerful sound it generates could raise a blister on a crocodile’s ass. You could refer to it as Led Tractor or Lynyrd Zeppnyrd, but Goodbye June just calls it “straight up Rock & Roll” and so it is and then some.

Goodbye June began 10 years ago in the shadow of tragedy when vocalist/guitarist Tyler Baker lost his brother Shane, home on military leave, to a car accident. When the family gathered in southern Indiana for his brother’s memorial, Baker’s first cousins Brandon Qualkenbush and Landon Milbourn stuck around for a few weeks, remembering better times and playing music to ease their collective sorrow. The weeks turned into months, the trio wrote songs as therapy and finally hit a local studio to record a demo.

After a handful of shows, the musicians named themselves Goodbye June to honor their fallen brother and to reclaim the terrible month of his passing, transforming the pain of loss into the passion of creation.

Influenced by the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Booker T. & the M.G.’s and Bush, as well as the Gospel/Country strains of the members’ Pentecostal upbringings, Goodbye June spent the first three years honing its craft, ultimately relocating to Nashville in 2009. The band’s long, hard apprenticeship has finally started to pay dividends. Its 2012 debut album, Nor the Wild Music Flow, generated a ton of positive buzz, its 2013 European tour was a wild success and last fall the group won the “Unsigned Only” competition, nabbing the $10,000-and-goodies first prize.

Goodbye June secured the services of Grammy-nominated producer Paul Moak to helm its as-yet-untitled second album. The band has so far posted the first single, the soaring “Daisy,” for free download on its website (goodbyejune.com). Goodbye June, hello big time.