Jamestown Revival is an American folk duo made up of Zach Chance and Jonathan Clay. The childhood friends from
Magnolia, Texas
Magnolia is a city in southwestern Montgomery County, Texas, United States within the Houston metropolitan area. It is named for the magnolia trees that grow in the area.Americana and Western rock music. Their first album ''Utah'' was originally self-released in early 2014 and then re-released by
Republic Records
Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially ...
later the same year.
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
named ''Utah'' Best of 2014: Singer-Songwriter Album of the Year.
Jamestown Revival has been featured in ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
magazine'' and covered in the ''
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''. The band has made appearances at music festivals in the U.S., including the
South by Southwest
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
(SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas,
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colora ...
, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Austin City Limits Music Festival, and a musical appearance on '' Conan''.
History
Zach Chance and Jonathan Clay grew up together in Magnolia, Texas, and collaborated on their first song at the age of 15. Each launched solo singer-songwriter careers and were on tour as individual artists who would sing harmonies on each other's work. It was decided to form a band with harmonies at the forefront as it generated positive audience response. Jamestown Revival was formed in 2010 as a duo and expanded to a five-member band. The name Jamestown Revival was derived from one of the first United States settlements,
Jamestown, Virginia
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent British colonization of the Americas, English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about southwest of present-day Willia ...
, homage to
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American Rock music, rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, h ...
, and the concept of leaving behind the old and starting anew. The band wrote music they wanted to hear rather than what appealed to the masses using the music they listened to as a gauge of quality of their work. The band's music inspirations come from storytellers of adventure such as
Louis L'Amour
Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known West ...
,
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...
and
John Prine
John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. Widely cited as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation, Prine was known for his signature blend of humoro ...
as well as nature, and simplicity. Jamestown Revival's first album, ''Utah'', was named for the band's recording location in the
Wasatch mountains
The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...
, Utah, where while living in a cabin they used minimal recording studio equipment to create a unique style. The band's move from Texas to California inspired their song "California (Cast Iron Soul)".
Chance and Clay, in collaboration with Justin Levine, composed the score for the Broadway musical ''The Outsiders'', which opened at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on April 11, 2024. The show received positive reviews, winning the
2024
The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
Tony Award for Best Musical
The Tony Award for Best Musical is given annually to the best new Broadway musical, as determined by Tony Award voters. The award is one of the ceremony's longest-standing awards, having been presented each year since 1949. The award goes to the ...
, with Chance and Clay (as Jamestown Revival) nominated for the
Tony Award for Best Original Score
The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical or play in that year. The score consists of music and/or lyrics. To be eligible, a score must be written ...
.
Members
Current
* Zach Chance – piano, vocals
* Jonathan Clay – guitar, vocals
* Ed Benrock – drums
* Nick Bearden – bass
* Dan Reckard - organ, keys
* Preston Wimberly - guitar