Find out how three brothers living in Nashville formed a country-rock band – Sons of Sylvia – out of the blue, and went on to win Fox’s American Idol-esque Next Great American Band contest in record time and, it seems, not much effort!
Fate & Faith
Ashley, Austin and Adam Clark, who together make up Nashville’s newest country-rock band Sons of Sylvia, aren’t just brothers – they’re also incredibly talented when it comes to music. Ashley plays fiddle and used to sing background vocals for Carrie Underwood, while Austin and Adam have both toured with SheDaisy. When someone said they should form their own group and enter Fox’s Next Great American Band contest, the bros just went down in the basement, filmed themselves playing a few songs and sent it in.
“Next thing you know, we got a call back,” says Ashley. Although the sizzling siblings didn’t think they had a shot to win the contest, thanks to fan votes not only did they make it past the top 5, they went on to win the 2007 competition as The Clark Brothers, beating out 10,000 contenders for the title and scoring a recording contract!
Brotherly Love
What followed their Next Great American Band win were months of writing as the guys continued on their musical journey. Destination: unknown. “We took everything we love about country music and put it into [our first] record [Revelation],” Ashley explains. “And after writing, like, 300 songs, we weren't ready to stop there, so we thought we'd take a leap of faith and do something totally new and different.”
Famous Family
On the album you’ll hear Austin on the dobro (a type of resonator guitar), Ashley on vocals and Adam on the mandolin. The songs on the record are heartfelt enough to make your heart melt. One single, Love Left to Lose, was co-written with the guys’ hit-maker cousin – OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder.
And yes, they really are the sons of their mom, Sylvia.
