Eli Young Band Looked Toward Their Fans When Recording ‘Fingerprints’

Eli Young Band made a conscious effort to hone in on what their fans love most about their music when it came time to recording their fourth major label album, Fingerprints. After nearly two decades together, the Texas natives are well aware of who they are as artists but wanted to make sure the 11-track record stuck with fans long after the first listen. In an interview with Sounds Like Nashville, Eli Young Band detail their fans’ influence, share the stories behind several of the album’s songs and also explain why Fingerprints is their most personal release to date.

“There’s a lot of personal passion in the record,” frontman Mike Eli tells Sounds Like Nashville as his bandmates nod in agreement. “Not that there hasn’t been in previous records, but I think more so on this album than on any album we’ve done.”

Meanwhile, guitarist James Young says Fingerprints is the most cohesive body of work the group has released, adding that every song on the record came from where the band were in their lives. “I really think out of all of our records, this one is probably the most honest,” he adds.

Drummer Chris Thompson agrees, commenting that in addition to the honesty within each song’s lyrics there was honesty in the recording process as well. All four members were in the studio playing together, often keeping the first or second take on each song. The album itself isn’t overproduced and as a result, allows the vocals and the story line within each song to shine.

One of those tracks is “Skin & Bones,” a song Eli calls his favorite on the album. Written by Eli, Phil Barton and Lori McKenna, “Skin & Bones” is the story of the EYB frontman and his wife, Kacey.

“There’s a huge part of me in that song,” Eli explains. “My wife and I have been together for a long time and there comes a point where you can’t figure out where Mike stops and Kacey starts. There’s a whole lot of her that’s influenced everything about me. The honesty of ‘She’s in my skin and bones, she’s everything about me.’ I’d be a pretty lost dude without her.”

Other songs, like the beautiful ballad “God Bless the Rain” written by Eli, Erik Dylan and Jason Nix, also capture an organic feel where Eli sings of he and his wife’s love of the outdoors.

“We love sitting in our backyard and enjoying the peace and quiet and listening to the birds and the crickets and locust. It’s one of those things we love doing together. Sometimes in that moment you get soaking wet you have to say, ‘Thank you for giving us that moment,'” he says nostalgically.

Much of Fingerprints is autobiographical and Eli admits that being a songwriter means sharing details from his everyday life in music — sometimes without realizing it. The extremely personal album closer “The Days I Feel Alone” is just one example as it describes the loneliness a traveling musician often battles with life on the road away from his family.

“Both us and our wives and our families have to deal with that. After being together for 17 years, we’ve found our coping mechanisms and figured some things out,” Eli notes. “It does get lonely and that song was very easy to write because we know that loneliness so well.”

While there are some striking ballads that pull on the heartstrings, Eli Young Band’s Fingerprints also highlights the fun, upbeat songs fans love in the live setting. “Saltwater Gospel” is a song that Young says is a concert staple and has the audience singing the lyrics back to them every night.

“It has really taken on a life of its own. That’s one song I thank God every day we cut it,” Young confesses. “You get to play it in front of an audience every night and see them sing it back to you. It’s a good feeling.”

It’s these fans that Jon Jones says Eli Young Band were hoping to serve on Fingerprints. As he explains, part of what EYB were chasing on the record were their old songs — album cuts that fans would request night after night religiously.

“What is it that all of our fans love so much about the old songs? Why is it that there are certain songs that they request over and over again? Which of the songs that weren’t singles, why are those the ones that permeated and had that staying power with our fans?” he asks. “That’s what we were chasing, those types of songs as opposed to trying to chase something that was clever or what’s going to work with radio.”

What Eli Young Band were chasing seems to have worked well in their favor as night after night fans have been entranced by the new songs they’re playing off Fingerprints.

“I don’t know if there has been a record where we started playing new stuff where the crowd loved [the songs] as much as they loved these new songs,” Eli concedes. “It feels really good. We’re really proud of this album.”