The Great Unknowns

Cover: Free

Ages: 21 and up

Sometimes it seems as though The Great Unknowns are trying very hard to live up to their name. The alt-country band recorded its first album in the basement of a college dorm in Boston on a shoestring budget in 2003, intending to press just enough copies for friends and family members. But the record found its way into the hands of Indigo Girl Amy Ray, who declared it “one of the best things I have heard this year” and released it on her independent label, Daemon Records.

The record sold beyond label expectations, and picked up glowing reviews from music critics who predicted that the band would soon invalidate the “Unknown” portion of its name. No Depression columnist Rick Cornell confessed, “I can’t stop playing this disc”, and named it one of the top ten releases of 2004. Maxim called it “unpretentious heartland rock.”