With their latest record, The Lone Bellow chooses joy

Nashville-based indie-folk band The Lone Bellow have always treated their live shows as an extension of their story. And in a room like Delmar Hall, that story can take on a life of its own.

“We absolutely love playing music in venues that have a spirit to them,” says lead singer Zach Williams, speaking to SLM a few days before The Lone Bellow’s February 27 show in St. Louis.

In many ways, Williams says, the rooms themselves end up shaping their live show. Some venues lend themselves to quiet moments and connection, while others are made for more rocking energies.

And while there are few hard-rock influences in the songs that make up The Lone Bellow’s sixth studio album, What A Time To Be Alive, there are hints of pop spun through a touch of yacht rock–enough stylistic curveballs to surprise even the band’s most loyal followers. 

“We had some melodies that Michael Bolton could have slayed,” laughs Williams, who for the first time wrote collaboratively with the full touring band, including founding members Brian Elmquist and Kanene Pipkin alongside drummer Julian Dorio and multi-instrumentalist Tyler Geertsma. “There were a couple What would Bolton do? conversations around songs like ‘I Did It For Love’ and ‘Staring Into the Sun.’”

In fact, the bright and springy feel of the band’s music video for “I Did It For Love” certainly breaks ground for The Lone Bellow. “I think we’re entering this new era as a band, where we’re intentionally leaning into joy,” Williams says. 

Granted, from the moment the band released their self-titled debut album back in 2013, their sonic foundations seemed entrenched in more doom and gloom. But not so much anymore.

“We love the beautiful dark colors that we get to write and record, but we also just love having fun,” Williams says. “During the live show, we will go from a full-on bone-shaking wall of sound on one song to a delicate, acoustic harmony song the next. It’s a way to tell a story and create a kind of arc to the night. It’s also a way to challenge ourselves to stay present. If the audience goes on that journey with us, it’s heaven.”

It’s this ethereal feeling that the band attempted to transport into every song on What A Time To Be Alive, which was written in Kentucky and recorded in Alabama.

“That’s what’s so great about this record,” Williams says. “It’s a time capsule for a group of musicians who get to be really good friends. So, it all comes out––the good, the bad, and the ugly.”

The band experienced a little of that ugly back in 2022, when a majority of the tracks of What A Time To Be Alive were stolen during a Chicago robbery which occurred steps from where the band was having dinner.

“We came outside to a bashed in window and everything was gone except for my guitar in the van,” Williams says. “We were mixing the record while we were touring, so we had a good bit of it with us on hard drives. Re-recording all the parts that were stolen from us gave us such a new outlook on why and how we do what we do and how much it means to us.”

But not everything was up for reinvention. Take their long-loved cover of “Islands in the Stream,” which often finds its way into The Lone Bellow’s electric live show.

“We’ve loved that song for a long time,” says Williams of the Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton classic that found its way onto What A Time To Be Alive. “Our ride-or-die people will tell you that we’ve been singing it live for years.  We’ve always loved the words too…So, we just said, ‘Hey, we own our own record label now, let’s record it and put it out.’ 

“We are choosing joy as a means of keeping our hearts open,” Williams adds. “To each other, and to whatever life brings our way.”