LITTLE ROCK — Cotton Jones is a band that knows where it is going but isn’t so sure where it will end up.
“We’re from Cumberland, Md., and have still been living there, but we’re putting our stuff into storage, since our lease was up,” says Mike Nau of Cotton Jones, who co-founded the band with his wife, Whitney McGrew. “Touring will have us gone a lot, so we’re not sure where we will be calling ‘home’ next.”
Nau is the band’s lead singer and songwriter and also plays rhythm guitar. McGrew plays keyboards, organ and electronic autoharp, and also provides harmony vocals. Other members of the group are Todd Gowans on lead electric guitar and Greg Bender on bass.
Since the band got its start in 2007, it has found its way to central Arkansas a couple of times, first three years ago at Sticky Fingerz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, before the club changed its name to Stickyz, and on Nov. 15, the band opened a show at the Rev Room for Dr. Dog (for whom the band did about a month’s worth of opening gigs).
Variously described as psychedelic folk, dream pop, Americana and baroque pop, Cotton Jones shortened its name from The Cotton Jones Basket Ride, a decision Nau says happened after the band put out its first full-length album. That album, The River Strumming, came out in September 2008. It was followed in January 2009 by Paranoid Cocoon, and in August 2010 by Tall Hours in the Glowstream. Since then, the band has released a couple of extended play discs: Sit Beside Your Vegetables and About the Game, in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Of the oddly named Sit Beside Your Vegetables, Nau says the name came about after pondering the rigors of touring.
“We had been talking about how nice it was to be home after a year or two of constant touring,” he says.
Asked who the band would cite as influences, Nau names no one in particular, preferring to mention only soul and gospel music, as well as “a little bit of everything.”
He struggles to say what Cotton Jones is all about, after five years of shaping its sound.
“We’re always changing, and as we grow and get more comfortable, we’ll continue to change,” Nau says. “We try to add a bit of homespun fun, a playfulness and light-heartedness to our shows. We have a bit different of a presentation, touring without drums, so there’s less rhythm.
“Whitney has gotten more comfortable taking a bigger role in singing, so we try to do as much as possible together, vocally.”
Cotton Jones Opener: Free Micah 9 p.m. today, Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 107 River Market Ave., Little Rock Admission: $6 (501) 372-7707 stickyz.com
Style, Pages 28 on 02/19/2013