Name Brandon Decker | ||
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Kelly cole brandon decker
Brandon Decker aka "decker." (born May 11, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter based out of Sedona, AZ. He performs and releases albums under the moniker decker. Since October 2009 Decker has written, recorded and self-released 6 albums, all the while touring substantially across the United States. While performing tour stops at traditional music venues, Decker early on gained notoriety for almost daily impromptu street performances he and his band gave during the course of a 99-show tour for his 2010 release, Long as the Night.
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Decker is known for his desert-influenced stylings, semi-autobiographical and emotionally driven songwriting, as well as the use of Biblical themes, although he professes to be an agnostic. He is also known for his unique voice which has been compared to Rod Stewart, Jack White, and Shannon Hoon. Decker was named 2011 Arizona Songwriter of the Year and 2012 Arizona Album of the Year (Slider) by Arizona music blog, Yab Yum Music and Arts.
Decker’s music is often considered singer songwriter, alt-country and indie folk, although his recent material has been said to include elements of psychedelic rock.
History
From his musical beginnings, “decker.“ has been the recording and performing name for the music of Brandon Decker. In 2009 Decker recorded, largely out of his home, his debut 11-song album Long Days released on his own independent Arizona label Mescal Porch Records. He immediately followed the release with a 7-week tour of the west coast. Critics praised the debut album as a powerful tale of redemption rife with poignant lyrics while also retaining a simplistic, approachable catchiness.
Upon returning from the tour Decker immediately began work on his second album Long as the Night. With the goal of a larger sound, Decker entered a Sedona studio and assembled 12 musicians to make the album. Upon releasing the 8-song album, Decker assembled a band for touring and immediately set out on a five-month, 99-show U.S. tour with the accompaniment of mandolin, trumpet, accordion, and psychedelic atmospheric guitars. The album was praised for its dramatic and emotionally enveloping subject matter. In addition to the scheduled performances, and in order to help offset some of the costs of touring, the band quite frequently took to the streets to perform and would amass large followings of onlookers. The touring act was dubbed “psychedelic-pirate-folk-whiteboy-gospel.”
After the extensive tour for Long as the Night Decker went in studio again to record an EP Broken Belts, Broken Bones; an album he has said came directly from the experiences of the long tour and preparing for fatherhood. The album was released October 7, 2011.
In August 2012 the band suffered a near fatal roll-over accident with then-singer Kelly Cole ejecting from the vehicle and suffering severe injuries. The band recovered and released the album Slider in March 2013. The album was well-received and supported by several national tour dates.
In the summer of 2014 decker. assembled a large cast of musicians in Tucson, AZ to record the album Patsy. The album was recorded at WaveLab recording Studios, known for recording artists Calexico, Neko Case, Iron and Wine, Amos Lee and more. Released in February, 2016, the album received positive national reviews and radio airplay.
Patsy was followed up in September 2016 with the psychedelic blues rock album Snake River Blues, the band's 6th studio recording. The album was released with a month-long residency at New York City's Rockwood Music Hall and will be followed-up with a documentary film with the same name.
Discography
Long Days (2009)
Long as the Night (2010)
Broken Belts Broken Bones EP (2011)
Slider (2013)
Patsy (2015)
Snake River Blues (2016)