Achieving Grammy Award Winning Status in the mere infancy of their careers, the Kings of Leon have far surpassed expectation- combining post-punk, alt-rock and shoegaze into a crock pot of simmering southern rock- the boys have paid homage not only to their previous lives as sons of a preacher man, but also to their secular redirection and love of Jack Daniels Whiskey.  But to understand the mystery behind the myth, you have to know the full story of their epic birth.

The Followill Brothers- Nathan(30), Caleb(26) and Jared (22), are the sons of a Pentecostal preacher (who recently resigned in 2007)-The Followill’s spent most of their childhood trailing behind their grandfather Leon, a man who toured the heartland and insisted that the boys conduct their lives solely through faith-that would soon change.

The Followills spent their earlier years confined to homeschooling and church choir music- they were strictly prohibited from listening to any secular tunes. It was Leon Followill, the brothers’ cousin, who first broke away from the church- resigning and divorcing his wife in 1997. Nathan and Caleb soon followed suit and ran off to Nashville where they met producer and former member of the new wave revolution Angelo Petraglia. The boys caught wind of the Rolling Stones and Johnny Cash and decided to completely abandon their previous lifestyle.

Surprisingly, it was the last and youngest Followill Brother to abandon the church, Jared, that started Kings of Leon with cousin Matthew Followill in 2000. Public school would expose Jared to the world of the Pixies and Velvet Underground- all four boys began woodshedding (or improvising harmonies) while they gathered the interest of nine major music labels- they chose RCA.

Kings of Leon would released their debut EP “Holy Roller Novocaine” and LP “Youth and Young Manhood” in 2003- owing it’s name to a passage from Earnest Hemingway’s A Movable Feast- NME called the album one of the “best debuts of the last 10 years.” It wasn’t hard to like them, with a gritty garage edge mixed with backwoods, southern charm- the raucous starter entree gave new fans a hearty meal to masticate.

“Aha Shake Heartbreak,” released in 2005, reached a broader audience outside of the UK where they were experiencing the most exposure. Members of the bands Oasis, Modest Mouse, Radiohead and Pearl Jam publicly praised the album. At the time, the Kings of Leon were better heard on the live circuit, so the album was recorded in a live studio sans overdubs or reverb- adding to it’s edgier sound.

Since then, Kings of Leon tickets have sold out at the famed Radio City Music Hall in NYC and The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Their third album, “Because of the Times,” hit stores in 2007 and debuted at number 1 in the UK and number 25 on US charts. Considered an evolution from “Youth and Young Manhood,” southern hospitality was traded in for experimental, moody  and seasoned sound- some fans liked the change, others didn’t. While Stylus Magazine rated the record a C-, NME once again gave rave reviews.

After an extensive Kings of Leon tour, Kings of Leon announced that they were “ready to tackle their southern roots…again” and so they did- with a much needed experimental rock twist. Citing Radiohead, Crystal Castles and My Morning Jacket as influences- “Sex is on Fire” would become one of their defining hits and the album Only by Night become the Uk’s 3rd largest selling album of 2008 . Rolling Stone dished that  “Frontman Caleb Followill cranks up his Allman Brothers howl, turning out big choruses with sometimes tough-to-parse lyrics and deep-feeling melodies reportedly influenced by pain meds he began taking after shoulder surgery. ” And yes, it is that heavy, the Kings of Leon tour that year was equally subterranean.

Look for news about Kings of Leon’s 5th studio album set to be released some time in 2010 and in the meantime, check out the full track listing on the Kings of Leon Albums page and the Kings of Leon Tour Dates on the Kings of Leon Schedule page.