Oxford favorite ‘The Vegabonds’ return to the Lyric

Published 9:26 am Thursday, September 7, 2017

The Southern rock quintet (and Oxford favorites) The Vegabonds will be making their return to town tonight to open for Whiskey Myers at The Lyric.

The Nashville-based band are no strangers to Oxford and have been playing here since their early touring days.

“Oxford has been great to us,” said lead singer Daniel Allen. “We know a lot of folks there. We’ve been together for nine years, and we’ve been going to Oxford for as long. We’ve been treated well every time there. It means a lot for us to get to come through there and play The Lyric or Larry’s and all the fraternities and sororities.”

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The band recently completed their third European tour and despite their music being distinctly American, Allen says nothing was lost in translation.

“We’ve had really good receptions every time (in Europe),” the singer said. “This tour was actually the best one we’ve done so far in terms of crowd reception and venues we were playing. They loved the Americana rock thing.”

A new album is coming soon from the group, and they recently put out a new single, “Long Haired Country Boy,” a Charlie Daniels Band cover. While the band doesn’t have a firm release date yet for their fourth album, they plan to put out another new tune this fall called “Partying With Strangers.”

“We’re touring pretty much non-stop, so we have to take days to get into the studio in Atlanta where we’re recording,” Allen said. “Anytime we’re close to Atlanta, we just hop in the studio and record a song. Just trying to put out new music when we can and keep it fresh.”

Over the nine years that the band has toured, they’ve opened for some huge marquee names like Gregg Allman and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Both are obvious influences on The Vegabonds’ sound.

“It was nice to meet those guys that you listen to your whole life,” Allen said. “They’ve been a huge influence on all of us as musicians. We opened for Gregg Allman back in 2011 at Sun Fest in Florida. We got to talk to him a little bit after his set; he was really down to earth.”

The Vagabonds will be playing The Lyric on Sept. 7. Doors to the show open at 8 with a 9 p.m. stage time. Tickets range from $15 to $20 and can be purchased online at thelyricoxford.com.