At Southbound Bar & Grill, The Band of Heathens played "Hurricane" with fresh energy, though they've sung it countless times. The crowd sang along and gave it right back. Their 2011 recording of the song, a cover first cut by Levon Helm, has since gone platinum.
"I don't think we ever get bored of it," says co-founder Gordy Quist. It's a privilege, he says, to be "the medium that brings the song to an audience" and to take part in what he calls "energy transfer." A different set list every night keeps it interesting.
"Part of our mission has always been to bring music to people, wherever and whenever we can do that," says co-founder Ed Jurdi. Smaller rooms are really intimate, he says, a chance to "get to meet people, get to look in their eyes." He adds, "I don't think that ever gets old."
Southbound owner Jodi Goldsmith books plenty of local and regional acts, and booking agencies often reach out when a touring band has a date routed through the area. "We ourselves are huge fans of Band of Heathens, so it was an honor to have them at Southbound," she says. For her, the intimate concert experience comes first. "We're small, but we bring in the best artists," she says. "There's not a bad seat in the venue."
Jurdi lives in Asheville, North Carolina, and Quist lives halfway across the country, so most of their time together revolves around work. Still, Jurdi says what stands out most is that they genuinely like each other. "We make each other laugh. We have a pretty inside language at this point." They're on the same page about the music, he adds, while each keeping his own identity, and "the level of respect that we have for each other is really high."
"I never had a brother growing up," Jurdi says. "Gordy is the closest thing for me to having a brother. Honestly, I couldn't have written it like this."
A song can start with a line from a conversation, a movie or a book, Quist says. He and Jurdi collect those ideas, shape them together, then bring them to the studio, where much of the band may hear them for the first time. "That's when we kind of open up the floodgates for ideas," Quist says. "We try to go in with no preconceived notions and just let it turn into what it's going to be."
Family has changed the rhythm. Twenty years ago, Jurdi could drop everything at 2 a.m. for an idea. Now he's more likely to record a voice memo and come back to it the next day. "Becoming husbands and becoming fathers has been a great thing for all of us," he says.
This year the band has been celebrating what it means to last two decades. For Quist, that has meant honoring the music ahead of social media, promotion and content. "We feel lucky that we've been able to keep focusing on the music, and our audience has come along with us."
That audience has become part of their lives. During COVID, the band's Good Times Supper Club show brought fans together, and it lives on as their Patreon community. People they might once have said hi to in passing have become friends. "The gratitude is high for all of it," Jurdi says. "We've hit the lottery in life in so many ways." Even in the grind, he adds, "it's not supposed to be easy. That part's okay."
At the time of the interview, Jurdi had been home for about an hour after a red-eye, the last leg of a 10-day rafting trip through the Grand Canyon with Quist and their wives. It was the pair's first trip like this.
"It was a good reset," Jurdi says. Quist agrees. "It was a great reset on perspective and life and what's important and how small we are."
Being off the grid in nature is a good time to wrestle with your life, Quist says, and trips like that sometimes lead people to come home and rethink everything. That's not what happened for him. "To me it was all gratitude for the life that we've been living," he says. "I come back recharged to keep going and forging ahead." He hopes to do it again and bring his kids, and he'd love to make it a once-a-year thing.
It's a life, he says, that's been a mix of chance and hard work. Looking back on 20 years has reinforced how lucky they are and that they're on the right path. "I don't know what lies ahead," Quist says, "but I'm excited for it."
About The Band of Heathens
The Band of Heathens formed in Austin, Texas, in 2005, with Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist as its principal songwriters. The band has stayed fiercely independent from day one, turning down record deals and keeping ownership of its catalog.
Their 2011 recording of "Hurricane," a song first recorded by Levon Helm, has been certified platinum, and the band's music has passed 1 billion streams. Their newest album, Country Sides, came out Feb. 20, 2026, as the band marked its 20th anniversary.
Fans can stay connected through the Good Times Supper Club, the band's Patreon community, which grew out of the show they hosted throughout COVID.
"We've hit the lottery in life in so many ways." — Ed Jurdi
"We're small, but we bring in the best artists. There's not a bad seat in the venue." — Jodi Goldsmith, Southbound Bar & Grill