Hallelujah Boy

Ten records in eight years. 100 songs in one year. Who exactly is Hallelujah Boy?

Hallelujah Boy began as a one man project in 1998 for JB Whittenburg, an elementary school reading teacher in his other life. Initial recordings mainly explored the world of lo-fi, four-track home recording, with sounds alternating between loud, buzzing guitars and quiet acoustic guitars and pianos. The next 5 years saw a gradual refinement of the HB sound (culminating in 2003’s ambitious 2-disc Diamonds Fields of Meade), and a need to emerge from the bedroom studio began to manifest itself.

A short mini-tour in 2004 to support the simultaneous release of no less than four new recordings (two full-lengths and two EPs) marked the beginning of this new chapter for Hallelujah Boy. However, frustration soon set in with the sonic limitations of a one man live show. After several months of searching, a full band was assembled in 2005, featuring Rich Patt on drums and Greg Lewis on keyboards. Almost immediately, they began wowing audiences around Norfolk, Virginia with their high-energy, melodic brand of indie rock.

The latter part of 2005 and early 2006 found the group hard at work recording a new record and gaining new fans with regular shows across Virginia and around the Washington DC area. Opportunities to open for national touring acts like Wilderness, Parts and Labor, and Eagle Seagull helped to spread the word, and encouraged the group to consider a move to DC in hopes of conquering a larger regional market.

In May of 2006, Hallelujah Boy released their new album on Transaction Records, entitled Noise and Silence. Early reviews declared the album a “full force music explosion with a symphony of sound ready to let loose” (Innuendo Entertainment) and especially noted the band’s unique arrangements, including the addition of a string quartet on three of the songs on the record. A summer tour of the Northeast took HB through New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Boston, and finally back to their new hometown, Washington DC, where they’ve already established a small following with regular shows at clubs like the Velvet Lounge and the Red and the Black.

So, to return to the original question, who is Hallelujah Boy? A better question to answer now would be: What is Hallelujah Boy? Primarily, Hallelujah Boy is all about great songs. Whether ripping through anthemic rock reminiscent of Guided by Voices or Superchunk, or trying out quieter, more atmospheric settings, or even playing Jesus and Mary Chain-esque rearrangements of their songs with drum machines live onstage, the focus is first and foremost on great songs. And by the way, there are plenty of songs - in fact, 100 new songs that will be written and released this year alone (check out the progress on www.myspace.com/hallelujahboy).

OK, so now : who is Hallelujah Boy? Well, just recently the lineup has expanded to include guitarist/songwriter Tom Garnett, adding yet another element to the band’s increasingly dynamic live show. Who and what Hallelujah Boy is seems to always be changing, and the possibilities ahead are limitless.