Young Ambition

A No. 1 country hit will make a band popular in a hurry.

Except “it doesn’t feel like a hurry to us,” says Chris Thompson, drummer for the Eli Young Band. “Even that single took a year to get to No. 1.”

The notoriously hardworking band from Denton, Texas, has been making country albums for nearly a decade and touring at every opportunity.

Those efforts have brought the quartet to Fayetteville on many occasions, most recently in September for a gig at the Arkansas Music Pavilion.

The band returns for a Wednesday night show at George’s Majestic Lounge.

That was the site of the Eli Young Band’s first performance in town, an occasion that drew about a dozen people.

Wednesday’s show, on the other hand, is sold out.

Success may not have arrived overnight, but it has certainly arrived. The group’s first No. 1 country hit, “Crazy Girl,” was also named Billboard magazine’s No. 1 Country Song of the Year for 2011 based on audience impressions. “Crazy Girl” followed that honor by being nominated for the Academy of Country Music’s Single Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Perhaps the band did not understand the full magnitude of the single when it was released, but Thompson says the group knew they had something special.

“It think the four of us really thought it was a hit the first time we heard it,” he says.

The success of the song also puts the band in a precarious situation, Thompson adds.

The Eli Young Band will, after the conclusion of a headliningtour with Eric Paslay, serve as opening act for genre heavyweights Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in a run of Australian dates, then return to the states to perform alongside Dierks Bentley. Between those tours and the ACM recognition, lots of new attention is suddenly being directed the band’s way, and Thompson says the musicians want to put their best foot forward.

“If we’re not going up after this, then we’re going down,” he says.

That may be a fatalistic approach, but the band worked too hard to get to this point only to have opportunity slip away.

The group already has a dedicated following in many cities - Thompson counts Fayetteville among them - but is ready for the extra eyes the new tours and new chart status may provide.

The group’s newest fans come along as the group is promoting a new single “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” from a new album, “Life at Best.”

“We poured a ton of passion into writing that album,” says Thompson, hinting that may be the reason the band is on the verge of a major breakthrough.

“Our whole year is almost booked,” he says. “There is a huge opportunity (ahead of us).

We’re more than one song.”