Mike Eli with special guest Jeffrey East
Mike Eli
With one of the most distinctive voices in modern Country music, Mike Eli is the chart topping co-founder of the multi-Platinum Eli Young Band – and a commanding front man with a troubadour’s soul. As a bandleader and songwriter, Eli’s trailblazing career has helped inject Texas-Country spirit into the national mainstream, leading to over 19 million RIAA-certified units, three Billboard Top 5 albums, and a series of chart topping Platinum successes – from feel-good singalongs to heart melting romantic anthems, and beyond.
Formed in 2000 in Denton, Texas, Eli Young Band rose from the state’s vibrant live-concert scene to release their debut album, Level, in 2005. Earning their first Gold certification with “Always the Love Songs” in 2008, they followed with the Platinum album Life at Best and #1 hit 10,000 Town, while charting 14 singles on Billboard in total. Those include four #1 smashes – the 5x Platinum single “Crazy Girl,” 3x Platinum “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” 2x Platinum “Love Ain’t” and Platinum “Drunk Last Night.”
The recipients of multiple GRAMMY, CMA, CMT, ACA and Teen Choice Award nominations, the Associated Press calls EYB “a smart, relevant antidote” to country-music clichés – and by keeping the intensity of their live shows front and center, the band has sold out venues from coast-to-coast as seasoned headliners, while also sharing the stage with Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, Chris Young, Darius Rucker and Dave Matthews Band, among others.
With a following which now boasts more than 1.4 million Facebook followers, 2.2 million monthly Spotify listeners, and more, Eli and the Eli Young Band are now returning their independent roots – and to the bold creative defiance which launched their career. With a new batch of songs and the same self contained live-band philosophy, EYB’s latest chapter finds them returning to Panhandle House Studio in their hometown of Denton – the same studio where Level was born – to revive the raw, grassroots energy and emotional sting of their early work. Along the way, Eli continues to lead this band of musical brothers, while writing the majority of their fan-favorite Country anthems.
