The Mystic Valley Band stays southern

Bassist Macey Taylor collaborates with friends and family.

By Joey Vergara

Published June 3, 2009

The history of the Mystic Valley Band is one of those stories that seems composed by fate or even by accident. There was no master plan, no big ideas -- just a chance meeting of five musicians and one Polaroid at the Denver stop of a Bright Eyes tour.

"Rilo Kiley had played there the night before," bassist Macey Taylor said. "There was a little secret note and a package with a picture of (Rilo Kiley drummer) Jason (Boesel). We'd never talked about playing together before. So we were all in the same place for the first time, Jason being on a Polaroid picture and a joint, and (guitarist) Taylor (Hollingsworth) being on some soul-searching (trip), and we all just met (guitarist) Nik (Freitas)."

Soon after that, the newly-formed group holed up in Tepoztlan, Mexico to record a self-titled debut.

"I like to think you can hear that on that record, the vibe of being in a different place like that," Taylor said. "We didn't even have a band name at that point. We named it the Mystic Valley Band while we were there for a show we had in Mexico City."

Since then, Taylor, a Birmingham, Ala. native with an endearing accent and a convivial laugh, has seen the group transform into a more natural, collaborative group. Without a day to spare after completing the tour in support of Conor Oberst, the band took up residency at Sonic Ranch Studios in Tornillo, Texas. There were no second thoughts, just the desire to record new songs that had been played live at every show.

"The whole idea was to just go out there, have the songs figured out on the road and just go in there and nail them how we had been playing them every night," Taylor said. "Just being there right next to the Mexican border we were able to see the construction of the wall being built on the border of the U.S. and Mexico. That had an eerie feeling about it. We were all kinda grossed out by that."

After years of playing primarily bass in various bands, Taylor was given the chance to step forward on Outer South. When Oberst offered him the pretty rambler's song "Worldwide," he couldn't resist.

"I had sung lead with other bands here and there, but I guess it's definitely a little more nerve-wracking with a bunch of people that paid money to see their favorite guy and then (think), 'What's this guy? Why's he singing?'" he said, laughing knowingly. "I think now because of the new record and everything they'll know what they're going to see."

The song is one of the many on the record on which the rest of the Mystic Valley Band sing lead. Taylor's shaky voice fits the innocent music perfectly, as Hollingsworth offers a poppier sound with the spunky "Air Mattress" and Freitas takes a darker turn on "Big Black Nothing."

"You can really hear the difference in style of each and everybody's songs, but you know it's the same people," Taylor said. "By the time we started doing Outer South we had learned to play with each other so well to make it sound collective and the way that we're all going to sound together."