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The Twang Bangers Make Their High Country Debut at The Rock Sports Bar and Grill Saturday, May 17

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March 12, 2014. Imagine Texas alternative country with a kick of Tennessee Twang. The edge of today’s country music with vocals reminiscent of the genre’s 1990s boom. A hybrid encompassing a variety of southern roots, country and rock influences from Whiskeytown and Garth Brooks to Jason Isbell and Jimi Hendrix spliced with real-life Americana.

From a series of hard-hitting, southern-style jams to upbeat songs about home, heartbreak and love, The Twang Bangers reach far and wide in the country music genre with a live show that branches far from the band’s East Tennessee roots.

The group brings that live experience for the first time on Saturday, May 17 with an 8 p.m. performance at The Rock Sports Bar and Grill in Boone. There will be no cover charge for the night, and there will be plenty of food and drink specials for guests to enjoy.

The Rock Sports Bar and Grill is located at 276 Watauga Village Drive in Boone.

“I don’t believe ‘powerful’ is nearly enough word to describe what this band does on state,” write Donna Rea of CountrysChatter.com in 2012.

“They need to add a few more adjectives to that. I think words like energetic, charismatic, talented, fun, entertaining and a few more might work to adequately describe these guys to anyone who may not have seen them. They are fun to watch, and you find yourself watching each one of them. A lot of times the lead vocalist gets all of the pictures taken by the fans. But when this group was onstage, I found my camrea going from one to the next. I was paying attention to every move these musicians made. They all worked together to bring out a sound that was very entertaining, and uniquely their own.”

The Twang Bangers were founded in January 2008 inside a converted classroom at East Tennessee State University. Six students from the same Bluegrass, old-time and country music program that produced the likes of Kenny Chesney and a bevy of International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) award winners joined together with an idea for a side project to play local bars and entertain friends.

Within five years of their first performance in Johnson City,Tenn., the “side project” took on a life of its own with headlining shows in venues from Birmingham, Knoxville, Charleston and Columbia to Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati and recording projects with veteran Nashville producer Gregg Brown (Travis Tritt, Waylon Jennings) and five time Grammy Award Winning engineer Richard Dodd.

Last August, The Twang Bangers released their most recent project, “When the Lights Go Down” digitally across several platforms including iTunes, Amazon.com, Rhapsody, Google Play, Spotify! and Rdio follwing the regional success of their self-titled debut E.P. and “Part 2” released in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Behind three digital releases and a touring schedule that has provided opportunities to share teh stage with the likes of Josh Turner, Uncle Kracker, Joe Diffie, Trent Tomlinson, Corey Smith and James Wesley, The Twang Bangers are bringing their vision of country music to a wider audience.

“It’s our style altogether, not just the songs we play but the way we play them,” said guitarist Tyler McCoy. “Everyone brings a little something different to the table as far as style. It’s not hard to see that we tryly love what we are doing and the passion that we play with.”

“If I could say anything about our group, I would say that we’re real,” said lead vocalist Wes Holtsclaw, a native of nearby Roan Mountain, Tenn.

“What you see on stage, you see off the stage. The songs I sing, the music we play all tell unique stories. It’s who we are. It’s where we come from and I think that resonates with people from all walks of life.”