As with most of these posts, this is just for my own personal recollection and amusement. Consider it a journal of sorts if you must categorize it as something.
The Farm Hands was an acoustic rock band in the central Illinois area between the spring of 2010, to the summer of 2012. The band initially started out as a two piece acoustic guitar duo (Craig Keyes and Nathan Lhamon) but a few months later, in the fall of 2010, I (Nathan Thomas) joined in on electric bass to add a little bit more depth to the songs and to help fill the void. It’s kind of hard to put any sort of label on the style of music that we played, as there were many different genres of music. We played blue grass, twangy music, rock, heavy rock, light rock, easy listening, alternative rock, love ballads, 90’s hits, etc. You will just have to look at the set list and be the judge of that for yourself.
One of the most fun and interesting things about the band was the fact that we all took turns switching off playing different instruments and singing vocals for various songs to keep things from getting monotonous. Typically Craig “Craigermeister” Keyes would play rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Nathaniel Lee Lhamon would play lead guitar and backup vocals, and myself, “The Doctor” (a nickname given to me by Craig whose origin is still unbeknownst to me to this day), a.k.a. Nathan J. Thomas, would play bass. I will note who played what instruments in a separate post I plan on making containing our set list.
During that time period, we played around two dozen or so local live shows and events, we could even be found playing at the occasional house party of friends and family. The majority of our shows were hosted at a local watering hole called Rhythm and Brews in our hometown of Pekin, IL. We also opened up for Central Illinois folk singer/artist, Chicago Farmer, on multiple occasions at another bar called Bottom’s Up.
Acoustic cover mash up, featuring “East Bound and Down” by Jerry Reed, “Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer, and “It’s Not Unusual” by Tom Jones. Artists include myself, “The Doctor”, (Nathan Thomas) on bass, Nathaniel Lee Lhamon on lead banjo and vocals, and Craig “Craigermeister” Keyes on rhythym guitar and vocals. Continue reading “The Farm Hands Live – East Bound and Down/Can’t Touch This/It’s Not Unusual”
Cover of “Camel Walk” by Southern Culture on the Skids, featuring The Farm Hands, my siberian husky, Dakota, on backup vocals, and special guest drummer Derek Curless. Continue reading “The Farm Hands Live – Camel Walk”
Here is a gag track from our first and only album “Working Man’s Pardon”. It has a cool little bass line and some catchy lyrics. We always got a lot of energy from the crowd whenever we played this song at live shows.
Here is a single called “Romanian Man” from the three piece band (The Farm Hands) I was in from 2010-2012. This is my favorite song we ever did. We took turns switching instruments in a lot of different songs. I primarily played bass and did so in this particular little diddy. All of our songs can be found on my YouTube channel or on Soundcloud.