The Runaway Davids

Bio:

It all began in early 2007. Robert James had just moved to Nashville from Southern California to pursue two dreams - his fiancee, and music. Joe Beck, together with his wife, had also recently made the move to Nashville from Indiana. Robert and Joe met in a typical Nashville fashion - baristas by day, musicians by night. While working together at Starbucks to pay the bills, they hit it off instantly. Robert recalls the first shift he and Joe ever worked together - while horsing around as they closed the store, Joe dumped a handful of crumbs from the pastry case down the back of Robert's shirt. "I was so mad - I HATE mess!" he laughs. "Yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that to someone I just met," Joe agrees with a grin. That's Joe and Robert, both onstage and off. They're instantly relatable as close friends, like brothers, and they make anyone they meet feel the same.

The Runaway Davids was born of two different musical backgrounds. At the birth of the band, Robert had been playing bluegrass mandolin for about three years, while Joe had been playing roots rock for seven. Their collaboration together is best described as blue collar American music in the tradition of Tom Petty, Counting Crows, and Whiskeytown. "Robert and I got along well before we ever decided to make music together. Even though we come from two different places musically, because of the underlying respect it's never felt like a fight for ideas," says Joe of the band's conception. Robert agrees: "I feel like our mindsets work well together. My playing interprets his ideas."

And what about that name, The Runaway Davids? That's a question the guys get a lot. "Well, you put Runaway before anything and it sounds cool. The Runaway Davids. The Runaway Ramblers. The Runaway Ketchups. The Runaway Runaways," Robert laughs. But the meaning behind the name is more than just sounding cool. When they say David, they refer to King David. "His life was laid bare for all to see. He was called a man after God's own heart, yet he had his affairs, murders, and failures as a parent." And why the runaways? "Well, because even though we are naming ourselves after someone from the Bible, we are running away from the traditional mold of contemporary Christian music. We're dealing with all of real life - doubt, anger, specific sins, and God's plan of redemption through it all. We don't want to just reach out to the contemporary Christian market. We are just as comfortable sharing our music with people in a bar as we are in a church," says Joe.

"One of the things I was attracted to about Joe's writing, is that I don't necessarily feel like he beats around the bush. He writes about real things even if it's uncomfortable. Good art shouldn't always be comfortable," Robert says. "We're not necessarily writing music for other musicians. We're creating music so that people can feel represented, and in doing so we want to speak their language," adds Joe.

Joe and Robert's music is a well balanced conglomeration of ideas, much like their writing and performance styles. Joe is responsible for the band's poetic, raw, honest lyrics and lays down the basic idea for the music, and then the guys put it all together as a duo, Robert adding his own ideas and interweaving it throughout the song. In the same way, the guys' trademark sound vocally is Joe on lead, Robert singing harmonies, often different lyrics at the same time. The Runaway Davids was first conceived to fulfill a niche that has not yet been explored - a duo exploring the vast array of possibilities from roots to Americana to folk rock and back again, thanks to Joe's powerful lyrics and Robert's mandolin expertise. But it quickly grew to so much more than that. Now on a quest to write, record, and share songs that fans of all ages can appreciate and relate to, the band strives to deal with issues that are not being dealt with via mainstream music today. They have something to say, a message of hope and salvation through it all, and they cannot wait to share it with you.

FOR BOOKING: Contact therunawaydavids@gmail.com ..

Member Since:

August 25, 2006

Members:

Joe Beck - Vocals, Guitar Robert James - Mandolin, Vocals Rory Brown - Drums Zach White - Lead Guitar

Influences:

The Square Peg Alliance, The Normals, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Caedmon's Call, Counting Crows, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Gin Blossoms, Bob Dylan, Damien Rice, Vann Avenue.

Sounds Like:

Transparency and a willingness to be found out.

Record Label:

none ... yet!