Blips: Two Under The Radar Bands

This band has developed a unique sound that’s equal parts Rusted Root, Los Lobos and The Band over the course of a couple of fine studio albums, a killer live disc and years of guerrilla gigging around New York City. Check ’em out and try to stand still, I dare you.

– Scott Bernstein

The Sways

MySpace / Facebook

Don’t worry; the Sways are not just another cutesy boy-girl duo. While they are made up of the Nashville boy-girl duo, make that husband-wife duo, of Adam Landry on guitar and Carey Kotsionis on vocals, the Sways are crafty songwriters, musicians, and in Adam’s case – producers.

I actually stumbled upon the Sways after becoming enamored with the recent release from Braden Land, another budding Nashville talent, realizing that Landry produced, played a handful of instruments and helped write several of the tunes on the album. Compelled by the quality of the production, consistent vibe and guest players on the album, I looked into Adam’s CV, which includes working with Ray Lamontagne and Allison Moorer, and found this talented indie-pop group.

The Sways are not big self-promoters, instead just gradually paving their way on word of mouth touring and interplay with other Nashville music scene stalwarts. The Sways also perpetually play host to guests on pedal steel, keys, percussion, drums, vocals or anything else their friends might add to their scant breezy guitar and vocal arrangements. Likewise, you might find Adam Landry playing any of these instruments or half a dozen others with any number of other Nashville musicians. The Sways seem poised for stardom as their sound would fit perfectly on any number of romantic comedies or prime time dramas and I don’t mean that in a bad way. The Sways play the kind of pop music that should be the radio these days, because the music has both mass appeal AND it’s actually good.

– Ryan Dembinsky