EG Vines

EG Vines has spent his whole life with music, but didn't begin seriously pursuing it as a career until fairly recently. After releasing a few albums, he's stepped into his newest endeavor, the short film Beacons. The short combines three songs from his album "Through the Mirror" and debuts as a Screen Rant exclusive.

Beacons specifically features the songs "Ride,” “Waiting on the Aliens," and “Peace In This World," and is Vines' first real foray into taking on an acting role as Professor Vines. Additionally, Vines' longtime collaborator Josh Lockhart serves as cameraman on the short. While the COVID-19 pandemic created complications in Vines' musical career, he and his collaborators nonetheless were able to put together a unique compendium of his musical work for Beacons. - Screen Rant

Nostalgia rules the roost on “Drunkard’s Dream,” which kicks off as a stripped-down ballad and builds into a Coldplay-sized blast of expansive arena pop. Throughout it all, EG Vines sings about a golden yesterday that seems to shine a bit brighter than the present, while pedal steel guitar and anthemic percussion sell the drama in the background. - Rolling Stone

EG Vines, "The Victim"

"The Victim" is the second single from EG Vines' forthcoming full length album, Family Business, out Oct. 11. EG Vines played the Local Brew Live last month and gave us a taste of several songs from the new album produced by Jordan Lehning, a much sought after multi-instrumentalist and string arranger in Nashville. This album has ten well-crafted, catchy songs ranging from straight-up rockers like "The Victim" and "Blood in the Streets" to "The Hate Remains," a sparsely arranged, poignant look back at Alabama, the state where EG Vines went to college. - NPR

Eric "EG" Vines is happy to adopt the sleazy look of "The Salesman" in the video for the mournful song, premiering exclusively on Billboard today (Oct. 11) and featured on his upcoming debut solo album Family Business. But the look doesn't come easy, he tells Billboard.

"Unfortunately I have to glue that thing on, 'cause I can't really grow one," Vines says of his fake mustache.

The clip features Vines as a briefcase-toting presence offering up mysterious products to make a variety people's lives better, illustrating the song's discourse about consumer culture and the allure of easy solutions. Vines' "cryptic" look, meanwhile, was suggested by his wife.

"She ended up going on Amazon, finding the outfit. I describe it and literally the next day the packages were on the doorstep and I became that guy," he says. "I think the whole thing came together nicely, and maybe characters are a thing I use going forward. I always appreciate when good characters go hand in hand with a song; it adds another layer to the music you don't pick up on just listening to it."

"The Salesman" was, in fact, the first song from Family Business -- due out Oct. 11 -- that Vines began playing in his shows, even before the veteran of several bands, primarily the Bandoliers, released his first EP last summer. "Everyone was the most interested in ['The Salesman'] of any of the songs I was playing," he recalls. "Even before I put the EP out people were like, 'Oh, you got 'The Salesman' on there?' 'No, you have to wait a little bit for that one.' So it's been a crowd favorite for a little while."

Vines, who moved to Nashville from his native Alabama a decade ago, struck out on his own during late 2017 and has been honing his sound as a solo act since then. Topical songs on Family Business include storylines ranging from racism ("The Hate Remains"), to mass shootings ("Feel Again"), economic disparity ("Poor Man, Rich Man") and other issues ripped from the headlines.

"I'd always written in a little different style," he acknowledges. "I always had these singer-songwriter, more folk-y songs I was working on the backside of [the Bandoliers]. Several people had heard a few of the songs and encouraged me to pursue that route more. So, I just sat down and started writing a couple hours every day for a couple of years and found this is what I was best at and just kept moving from there."

Vines has sporadic tour dates set, including a Family Business release day back home in Birmingham, Alabama. He plans to add more dates during the fall and put on a more extensive push during 2020.

The video for “The Salesman” is below. - Billboard Magazine

EG Vines performs "Me and You", "Drunkard's Dream", "The Salesman" and "Them" for WMOT's Finally Friday From Home. - NPR

Following up on the heart-to-heart Conversation that he had with his listeners throughout his last EP, EG Vines becomes ‘The Salesman’ with his latest single. The character of Vines’ Salesman is delectably unscrupulous and cunning, making for a scintillating story for the songwriter to tell against the dark instrumental backdrop that he paints. As is standard for work from out of Vines’ catalog, it’s also steeped in a deeper meaning. Read between the lines and you will find straight-to-the-point commentary on how the Salesman is very much a real entity that has managed to creep in through society’s cracks. - For Folk's Sake

On Friday, EG Vines, known as part of the rock band the Bandoliers, will release his debut solo EP, Conversation.

Ahead of the EP’s release, Vines has released new album track “Tell Me Something, Brother.” Built on an arrangement of funky guitar, lively bass, and soulful background vocals, the track takes stock of what it means to live in today’s divided social and political climate.

“I wrote ‘Tell Me Something, Brother’ last year in the intensely divisive post-presidential election America,” Vines says. “There were a lot of bad things happening in the world and all I could see around me were people exacerbating that by being defensive and aggressive with each other. I went back and listened to What’s Goin On and Still Bill, among others, to see how the greats dealt with similar times in history.”

Vines and producer Eddie Spear recorded Conversation alongside musicians Leroy Powell, Chris Powell, and Brian Allen. - American Songwriter

Having burst onto Nashville’s bustling Americana scene with his debut EP in 2018, E.G. Vines is preparing for the release of his first full-length album as a solo artist. Produced by Jordan Lehning (Kacey Musgraves, Robert Ellis, Rayland Baxter), Family Business due out October 11, 2019 is a deep dive into Vines’ broad-ranging roots rock sound paired with lyrics that relate themselves to the human condition. As its title suggests, at its core lies a focus on what makes us, as a collective society, family. With lead single “The Salesman” already in rotation at regional taste-maker Lightning 100, Vines is poised to break out on a national scale.

The skyrocketing riffs of “The Victim” kicks the album off in style, complete with high-rising instrumental breaks and Vines’ own soaring across the track vocally. It gives listeners something expressive and personal to start out on while touching on today’s social climate. Vines recalls, “I started writing ‘The Victim’ when I was at the beach with my family thinking back on the progression of my life. It talks about victim mentality—if you feel like a victim, you’re going to be a victim. There is a way to break out of that and hopefully we learn to see it.”


Glide is thrilled to premiere “The Victim” (below) an inspirational anthem that mixes passionate guitar rock and a punctuating chorus. Vines mixes shades of early Tom Petty, U2 and modern touches of War on Drugs to create a knockout social commentary.

“The Victim’ is the first track off of Family Business giving it the daunting task of previewing the rest of the record. I did my best to take what the universe gave me and write songs without thinking about their final packaging, so there is a variety of lyrical content and stylistic influences you’ll experience throughout the record. That diversity is what I think I’m most proud of with this album. Lyrically, ‘The Victim’ is simply about victim mentality. It’s easy to slip into that mindset and you have to realize that you are in control of your own outcomes in order to get through it.

Growing up in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Vines first cut his teeth as the frontman to an alternative rock band in high school. Since then, he’s become a respected name amongst the greats of Nashville’s expansive roots rock cabal. First moving to Music City in 2009, Vines quickly became a hot commodity for his work with The Bandoliers, a respected facet of the blues and Southern rock scene in the mid-2010s. The band released their last album in 2015, at which point Vines acted on the urge to go solo.

Dropping his debut EP, Conversation—produced by Eddie Spear (Brandi Carlile, The Delta Saints)—in 2018, the rocker gave listeners their first taste of a more thoughtful, nuanced side to his songwriting. It was a much longer process than he was used to, with Spear acting as a songwriting mentor more so than a traditional producer, scrapping Vines’ initial batch of tunes and pushing him to hone his craft before releasing new material. The finished product was worth the wait, and showcased Vines’ newfound, stirringly eclectic Americana sound.

All in all, Family Business is an album about family, but not solely the nuclear sense. Vines has a knack for injecting his thoughts on hot button issues and well-crafted life anecdotes into his music as any bonafide roots rocker should, but his vision is wider in scope. In communicating his ideas on love, loss, and life, he instantly creates a connection with listeners that feels universally relatable and utterly personal. To this end, he aims to make us—one and all, as humankind—feel like family. - Glide Magazine

Nashville-based Americana singer-songwriter E.G. Vines looks back on his new song "Drunkard's Dream," the latest release from his forthcoming Jordan Lehning-produced album Family Business (out on October 11).

The lush, pedal steel-laden track finds Vines reminiscing on simpler times.

"Everybody knows that guy that hammers beers at the end of the bar reminiscing and telling you how great things used to be. I think that was my mindset the day that I wrote 'Drunkard's Dream'. In contrast, my bassist Ben Cunningham says it's a 'sweet song about young love'. Maybe he's right, I don't know (laughing) -- I'm glad it can be interpreted in that way," Vines tells Wide Open Country. "Musically, I love the dynamics on this one. In the studio, the band was incredible and Jordan Lehning called all the right shots in the producer's chair. I couldn't be happier with the final product." - Wide Open Country

Nashville singer/songwriter EG Vines has had a whirlwind few years, first quitting his corporate job to pursue music full-time, then releasing his 2019 debut, Family Business. Later this month Vines is sharing his sophomore album, Through The Mirror. With his sophomore effort Vines channels alt rock and indie folk influences alike for a wide-ranging exploration, touching on everything from modern angst, American history, and even alien visitors. The latter topic is at the center of his third and final single, “Waiting On The Aliens,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Waiting On The Aliens” initially begins in a spacious mode, carried by gentle keys and psychedelic guitar lines. Quickly the cosmic instrumental tones come back to Earth as Vines launches into a gritty, stadium-sized guitar solo and mammoth alt rock climax. Vines calls down the aliens to come and take him away, burning the house down on his way out.

Vines says of the track, “I mean, who isn’t waiting on the aliens?! Personally, I think the aliens are just waiting for humans to have one more cognitive evolutionary leap so that we’re finally cool enough to party with them. I wouldn’t plop my bright, shiny spacecraft on Earth after watching us for the last couple of years.

Sonically, I think this song might do the best job of previewing all the components of Through the Mirror. It starts with some atmospheric keys, trippy guitar and a James Gadson-styled drum beat before turning into an in your face big guitar 90’s alt rock type thing in the back half.”

Check out the song below and watch for Through The Mirror, coming August 27th. - Under the Radar Magazine

EG Vines is loud and proud. The Nashville rocker has strong opinions about a host of contemporary topics. He lets you know what he thinks in a bold voice accompanied by a feedback-heavy electric guitar line. All Vines demands are world peace, true love, and meaningful work. Why is that too much, he wonders and forcefully expresses his frustration through volume and other sonic tactics. There will be enough time to be quiet when he’s dead.

Vines understands that he’s complicit in the whole mess, but he refuses to take responsibility for it. “I’m the king of the rat race,” he declares, “I am just a rat, you say.” The world may be a maze. That doesn’t mean the rewards at the end aren’t worth the effort or that the actions aren’t their own reward. “But I am still the king of you,” he reminds the listener. He’s still in charge. You don’t like it, stop playing the music. However, Vines knows he’s got you hooked. His music is the magnet that draws you into the mousetrap... (continued) - PopMatters