Right Lane Vacant

Right Lane Vacant represents a rising trend in Christian and Pop music. Combining catchy songs with a keen sense of personal individuality. They prove that anyone with an open heart and mind can relate to the messages they convey. Their sound incorporates many elements from acoustic guitar driven rock to sultry earth rhythms and Latin sounds all held together by the common threads that make them uniquely RLV. Given their drive, determination and business savvy instincts, they have built a following of core supporters and fans across the heartland. You can rely on RLV to be around for many years to come. - Chris Howland

Jason Phelps and Maegan de Grood met at Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska. Phelps had already produced a solo CD, but now guitarist/singer Phelps and vocalist de Grood have combined to form Right Lane Vacant, an agreesive folk rock duo mixing honest lyricism with praise & worship choruses.

Right Lane Vacant falls in the Spectrum just past the American Folk section, with the section closers of Lost & Found and Riley Armstrong being good comparisons. However, Right Lane Vacant (RLV) occupies the very beginning of the Jam Band section with singer-songwriter Thomas Cunningham. With Cunningham, RLV have that Jam Band sensibility that given the right backing band could break out into the open format, soloing, and eclecticism of Jam Bands.

This Jam Band sound may come through more clearly on RLV’s 6-song EP, Meeting in Middle, which incorporates a full band. Their live sets in Orlando only featured the duo’s vocals with Phelps’ guitar. Like the Pool Boys, they too worked a number of different stages across the hundreds of thousands of square feet of the Orange County Convention Center.

De Grood has a soulful voice with a good range, the ability for gutturals, growls, and whispered high notes. Folk-influenced American Rockers Michelle Branch and Jennifer Knapp come to mind, especially on an original like, “Journey.” Together, de Grood and Phelps create nice harmonies and have a good stage chemistry.

“Crazy Narrow,” about youth being crazy but still on the narrow path of Christ, turns in a bluesy folk rock. Elsewhere in their sets, RLV had well-chosen covers of “Hey, Girl” by O.A.R. and multiple songs from Dispatch.

Worship song covers also dotted their performances. Their style of approaching praise & worship choruses brought me back to days of being in college at campus ministry group, the moment of realizing that you’re blessed with some great performers. However, RLV is able to play those songs in a much more brooding way, partly due to de Grood and Phelps’ tendency toward back-of-the-throat vocals. That brooding nature to their sound has the potential to reveal the darkness of our lives much more than most worship bands. The original “Stopping Short” takes this brooding style to flesh out their own melody and vision, giving us a true sense of walking through the world as a Christian. - Benjamin Squires

"Musically, I think RLV rocks. They [Maegan and Jason] reach, literally, to most generations - young to mid-lifers. They keep the audiences attention as they sing about Jesus' love, and his interaction in our lives.

For days, weeks, and months after the concert, kids continued to talk about RLV and the witness they provided about Jesus in their lives. A tremendous testimony."

-- Mark 'Woody' Woodrow, POP Lutheran Church, Fremont, CA

--------------------

"Jason and Maegan perform original songs of love and faith and their presentation was still extremely appropriate for a public university setting. The evening after the noon performance here at the university, Jason and Maegan performed at a local church where some of my students volunteer. They adapted their performance to this very different venue. At the close of the concert, students were in line purchasing CD's, posters and stickers.

The real test came in my family auto when my sons started saying, "play number 6!" Whenever the Right Lane Vacant CD came on, I knew we had a winner."

-- Bobby Fisher, Jr., Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, MS
- Promoters