When Bella Vista residents Justin Logan and Stephen Miller decided to form a blues band, The Hudson Outfit, in December 2014, they were expecting a hobby.
What they got was a vocation.
"We began as a blues cover band," Logan said. "We practiced several times a week for a month and a half, then played our debut. It was more than we had hoped for when designing our sound. So we kept booking shows and spending time together."
"After a certain amount of chemistry builds, the original music just starts to flow," Miller said. "We've been hard at it ever since and are thoroughly enjoying the journey."
Last month, Logan came across a contest hosted by NPR that offers a chance for an unknown band to take part in their "Tiny Desk Concert" series, in which bands play (mostly) acoustic sets at a desk in NPR headquarters. Some of the biggest artists in the country have taken part in the series, including Wilco, T-Pain, Adele, The Avett Brothers, and John Legend. Many of the videos attract millions of views on Youtube.
"I am an avid listener of NPR," Logan said. "I'm glad to have found KUAF up here to listen to.... I actually saw a tweet that NPR music put out advertising the contest. We put things in motion the following day to make a submission."
"We'll find out who won the contest during the first week of March," Miller said.
Lead singer Logan, and bassist Miller were born and raised in Ada, Okla., before relocating to Bella Vista for a job last May. The band's drummer, Jake Smeltz, still lives in Ada, but will be joining the band later this year. Despite being an anomaly as a pair of 20-somethings living alone in Bella Vista, both members of the band have grown to love the town's atmosphere.
"Bella Vista offers a really fantastic pace of life for us," Logan said. "We stay busy, so when we are not playing music or working we look for a very relaxed environment. We share that with most of the other inhabitants of Bella Vista. It's a quaint community with a slow and easy atmosphere."
"We're very happy with Bella Vista," Miller said.
"This part of Arkansas is known for its affinity for blues music," Logan said. "We didn't choose to explore this part of music based on that fact, but the responses we get from the people we play for up here definitely keep us encouraged and chomping at the bit."
The Hudson Outfit lists their main influences as The Bright Light Social Hour, John Mayer, Eric Clapton, and Tame Impala.
"They, along with many others, have soaked into the sounds I produce," Logan said.
Northwest Arkansas has supported the band from the start, Logan said.
"If you took a sample of the people at most of our shows, it would be predominantly 30-plus years old," he said. "We love the young enthusiastic generation as well, but we're finding the 30-plus-year-old folks to be pretty enthusiastic themselves. The blues is appealing to all."
Logan said that the band has found some difficulty finding gigs in Bella Vista, which he hopes to change.
"We haven't found anywhere to book in Bella Vista just yet," Logan said. "We're open to ideas. It's a very 'untested market' for live music here in Bella Vista."
The NPR contest could bring a new level of attention and acclaim to The Hudson Outfit, which the band welcomes.
"What do we hope to accomplish as a band? My body says 'food, water, shelter,'" Logan joked. "My brain says an arena full of people who know every word. I'd meet somewhere in between."
Still, what really drives these local musicians is their love of music and of performing, no matter how many people are listening.
"As a band, we are about the spread of ideas and creativity," Logan said. "As long as that is sustainable and I'm not starving to death, I'll be playing music."
General News on 02/10/2016