Local country band Banned & Outlawed recently went down to Nashville. 

Dan the drummer from Banned & Outlawed says they plan to do some regular trips down to Nashville. 

“We met lots of new people down there, we caught up with people that we already know down there and wrote a few songs and got a few contacts for the next trip down.” 

He says it’s amazing to play on the same stages where incredible artists have performed. 

“It’s actually pretty crazy to think of some of these top artists playing down there, and we got all these up and coming artists like ourselves, and we get the chance to do that, it’s pretty crazy to get those chances.” 

Hnatishin says getting the chance to play in Nashville was amazing, but what was even better was the crowd response. 

“Especially when you got guys coming up to you after and telling you they want you to come back, they're going to be there for the next trip, so we'll have to catch up with them again when we're back in town.” 

He says writing songs with artists in Nashville as two brothers from a small town in Manitoba is a great opportunity to connect with people who live lifestyles a little bit different than themselves. 

“It's pretty cool to find out how they like to tackle songs and the way they start to get the ideas out, but the one thing they don't understand is the Canadian boys that come down and our stories, our country kind of living, they don't understand that,” he says. “So it's good to put the southern style and the northern country into one song.” 

Banned & Outlawed recently released their newest single “Keepin' it Western.”

Dan says his brother Jon came up with the idea for the song, and shares the story. 

“Last summer we did a few gigs, we went out to Alberta, Saskatchewan, going out Western Canada and we realized that there's different culture each province you go to,” he says. “Alberta, they got the big oil money and big country music, Saskatchewan, they're pretty supportive of country music and they got big farm country compared to Alberta. And Manitoba, we got the both the best of both worlds, we got some oil and we got some farm and so we wanted to put all these words in the song, so that's what we did for Keepin' it Western.” 

Banned & Outlawed has a few performances coming up soon. 

They are playing at the Hilltop Resort and the Cowboys Roadhouse this month. 

Then September 7th, they are playing at the Beausejour Double B Rodeo. 

“And a few more singles coming out and a few more music videos going to be made coming down the pipe.” 

 

With files from Dave Anthony