On Oct. 19th, the second annual Battle of the Bands was held in Norton Auditorium. This competition is held by the University Program Council at UNA as a way to decide who will be the pre-opener for the annual Spring concert also hosted by the UPC. This year there were five different bands who competed. 

The first performance was from the band CarpetBurn, a pop punk cover band based out of Florence, who currently hold a weekly residency at On the Rocks for college night every Thursday.The band is made up of four individuals and isn’t even a year old yet. 

The second performer was LEO BORN AGAIN, Leo Whyte. He is a Florence-based Christian rapper. He came out and performed his song the UNA anthem. Although he is a solo artist he was accompanied by friends on stage who performed alongside him as they sang, rapped and danced. 

The third performer was the band Mrs.Grantham. This indie rock band performs original music with some surprise performances from their lead singer who will occasionally replace his guitar for a tenor saxophone. This four piece bounces back and forth from Huntsville and Florence.

The fourth performance came from a band named The Rockin’ River Bottom Band, a country cover band based out of Florence. They have a total of six people in their band. They are an extremely new band here on the Shoals music scene, not even a month old. 

The fifth and final performance came from the independent artist Ty Blackwell. Blackwell is an original artist from and based out of Huntsville. He has a band of five who accompanied him for this performance. Blackwell mainly produces contemporary pop music. Blackwell is also soon to be releasing a new album. 

The Rockin’ River Bottom Band was crowned the Battle of Bands winner. This six piece will be the pre-opener for the Spring concert. This band consists of the lead singer, Brody Gravitt, rhythm guitar player Jacob Davis, rhythm guitar player Mark Lowry, lead guitar and keys player, Josiah McBee, bass player, Patrick Crummie, and drummer Will Gordon. 

The band started their rehearsals for Battle of the Bands the Monday before their performance in Norton. They started as 2 or 3 guys passionate about music and were talking one day about  how awesome it would be to compete, so the ball started rolling on this project. 

Each member comes from different musical backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common, they each love music separately, and clicked together as a band. Gravitt states, “We didn’t think that it would ever come together, but we eventually found a group of guys who loved to play and we are very musically gifted and it all just came together. 

The band planned to go out there and have fun, to simply just play with friends and call it a day. So when their name was called, they all said it came as a shock. 

After Battle of the Bands, the Rockin’ River Bottom Band’s next performance will be at the Spring Concert. Gravitt states, “Battle of the Bands was a great first show, and we hope that it’s the first of many. You can keep up with The Rockin’ River Bottom band on their Instagram with their username being @therockinriverbottomband. They will post upcoming performances there.