Down The Road by True North

El J and Jim Ed also decided to compete, as a duo, in the Colgate Country Showdown, and finished in the top 36 out of 50,000 contestants across the United States (and Canada). They were, literally, within an "eyelash" of going to the national finals and competing against 5 other groups for $100,000 and a recording contract from Lyric Street Records.

So, logically...

The success that True North was having propelled them into the studio. They selected the songs, and El J and Jim Ed started recording "Down The Road" at Makoche Recording Studio in Bismarck, ND in April, 2004. Actually, the original tentative album name was going to be "Home," which is another one of the songs off of the album. It was decided that there were already WAY too many albums that had been released through the years under that title, so we decided to go with "Down The Road." We were well on our way to finishing the album in 4 months, and got a fantastic start. Then things slowed down, people moved, schedules got complicated, and life just plain got in the way.....and we're just getting the album out in May of 2006! Uff Da (our Norwegian fans will know what this means)!!! Nonetheless, we are very happy with how the album has turned out and are stoked to be able to share it with our fans!

How did you come up with the band name?

El J came up with the name "True North" incidentally (as oftentimes is the case when coming up with band names) when he was looking up some information after having a discussion with his buddy, Chris Hansen, regarding the specific geophysical events that conspire to make a compass work! Turns out, it's not a big iron mountain up in the north pole, like Chris thought (I think that theory was disproved about 500 years ago, or so, my friend). As it turns out, for those of you who are still with me--it probably has something to do with molten iron ("liquid magma," as Dr. Evil would call it, while making the "quotation" signs with his fingers) in the earth's core that moves in a rotational pattern (due to extreme heat and the rotation of the earth)--leading to "weak" magnetic forces around the earth's axis of spin.....Well, I'll be danged. I just thought it sounded pretty cool! Seriously, however, I think it is a perfect name to pay homage to our roots in the great state of "North" Dakota (get it--they both have "North" in there). I also think of the name as a representation of our personal faith and belief in the Lord. True North.....yeah, I like it.

What about the debut album "Down The Road"?

"Down The Road" is comprised of 14 songs--12 of which were written by El J, one by Dean (When I Was a Young Man), and one re-make of the incredible Dave Hanner song, "Lord, I Hope This Day is Good," which was recorded by the incomparable Don Williams. The album was solely produced by True North. As far as "who played what" on the album, check this out--Eldon Johnson (El J): Lead and harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, drums, djembe, bongos, shakers......Dean Vestal: Harmony vocals, lead vocal on "When I Was a Young Man," electric and acoustic guitars, slide guitar, mandolin on "You'll See".....Jim Ed Hodges: Fiddle. Additional recording was also done in Brighton, CO by Butch Hause (who also played bass on the album). The amazing Ernie Martinez played dobro, mandolin, and banjo on the album. John Lardnois played the bowed upright acoustic bass at the beginning of "Home."

What does True North sound like, anyway?

As far as True North's "sound" is concerned, they are a tasty little concoction of country, bluegrass/newgrass, folk, roots, americana/acoustic.....sprinkled with some alternative and rock/pop flavoring. Their varied musical interests and influences have led to a unique blend of these genres.

What is True North up to now?

As I alluded to previously, the members of True North are currently spread out all over the country! Eldon is presently residing in Fargo, ND.....Dean Vestal is in Houston (Texas, not North Dakota).....and Jim Ed Hodges is living in St. Louis (you guessed it--Missouri, not ND). Jim is playing full-time with the St. Louis favorites, the Well Hungarians, and was playing on tour with Blake Shelton during the first part of 2005. Jim Ed is extremely talented and accomplished on the fiddle, including being a former National fiddle champion! (I'm pretty sure that means that he beat everyone else in the United States). I haven't added up all the miles that lie in between the three of us, but I'm pretty sure it's more than 150! Therefore, "gettin' the boys together" has taken on a whole new meaning. For the present time, El J is representing True North from Fargo, primarily with acoustic performances in North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, and South Dakota. He is in the process of putting together some very talented individuals to assist him in bringing out the "true" True North sound. In addition to this, El J is a full-time outpatient physical therapist in Fargo, and will begin teaching continuing education courses all over the nation, beginning in the fall of 2006. Over the past 8 years, he has also been on staff with a few different churches as a music and worship leader/director. He definitely has enough to do to keep busy! Dean is recently married, and both he and his wife are geologists in Houston. Dean works for Exxon-Mobil, as well as playing music on the side.

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