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There's nothing like traveling across the country to give you a solid background in rock and roll. The experience of living on the road can give someone the sense of freedom that attracts them to being in a band and being on tour. That's what happened to the three Followill brothers, who, along with their cousin, formed Kings of Leon in 2000. Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill spent their early youth traveling with their father, a Pentecostal preacher who took them from church to church before resigning in the late '90s. The boys moved to Nashville and were finally free to enjoy a less strict life. They ran right into the arms of rock and roll, forming a band with Caleb on guitar, Jared on bass, Nathan on drums and cousin Matthew also on guitar. At the start, they just wanted to rock out, and rock out they did. When they put out their debut album, the aptly named Youth and Young Manhood, it seemed to reach back to the past and summon the sounds of great traditional southern rock bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers. The country influence in their work please many fans who wanted to see a return to an old-school version of rock. It was fun, carefree country rock that you could expect to hear in a really decent Nashville bar. But the band had some indie rock leanings that would eventually direct their sound. In 2005, they followed-up by Aha Shake Heartbreak, an album that saw them blending shopworn country lyricism with a more English-influenced version of rock. Not surprisingly, the band was hugely successful in the U.K. though they were only indie darlings at home in the U.S. Still, you go where you're wanted, and they were welcomed with open arms abroad in Europe. In 2007, the band returned with Because of the Times, a more cerebral and spacey album that peaked at 25 on the Billboard 200 a major spike from their previous release's peak of 55. The band was gaining a wider and wider American audience with each passing year. Though they had initially earned comparisons to The Strokes (albeit with the caveat that they're brand of rock was distinctly Southern-fried), they started to shed that reputation by this album, and even wider acclaim from American audience, both inside and outside indie rock circles. 2008 changed things with the band's record Only By the Night. The record peaked at five on the Billboard 200, the highest that the band has achieved on the charts, and the hit single "Sex on Fire" topped the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The band surprised many long time fans by delivering the classic rock and roll they'd become known for in the first half of the album and offering more experimental, trippy work on the second half. This surely alienated some long-time fans who were hoping for more of the same, but it also widened their appeal among the more adventurous. Now, the band is heading out across the country and bringing their Southern-fried rock with them. Get Kings of Leon tickets now.
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