Arkansas Has One Of The Coolest Towns In The SEC, And They Want To Keep It A Secret

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – After they played their encore of “Heroes” by David Bowie. After they signed a few autographs and took a few pictures. After everyone funneled out into the street to disappear into Friday night. After they packed up their instruments and sound equipment. After the house was finally quiet, the members of Brother Moses let what just happened resonate for a second.

“This might be the best it ever gets,” singer and guitarist James Lockhart said. “But even if it is, this was pretty great.”

Lockhart wrapped a speaker cord around his hand and stared out the windows of “The Steamer,” the room where bands have set up for years of house parties. Why do they call it The Steamer? Because, well, it gets steamy.

Brother Moses started in 2014 right here in Fayetteville. They still live in town, working a variety of jobs (two of the members – Moses Gomez and Lockhart are finishing up their degrees) to pay the bills and pass the time until they can play another show. An EP re-recorded in Los Angeles (Legends) got them signed by Missing Piece Records, and this was essentially their second time playing the new songs to a home crowd.

When the event went out on Facebook, plenty of people said they were coming, but the band – and the people living in The Steamer who put on the shows – had no idea what to expect.

“If 100 people show up I’m going to be happy,” bass player Matthew Heckmann said.
“I think more than 100 people are showing up,” guitarist John-Lewis Anderson replied.

The band can be happy. Playing after Memphis outfit The Band Camino, it’s clear most of the crowd was here to see Brother Moses, and there’s definitely more than 100 people pushing forward and trying to crane their heads around the support beams of The Steamer.

Then a funny thing happened mid-set as the band fired off songs with the frenetic energy of an early Arctic Monkeys effort with a lot more Waffle House. The crowd started singing along with the tracks off the EP. Not just singing, but belting out the words, shuffling their feet and barely avoiding knocking the ceiling fan out of its orbit. There’s a teeter-totter effect with independent bands on the come-up. They start out unrecognizable, playing house parties and in support of other bands on tour to five or 500 people depending on the venue. And then all the work clicks, like connecting a circuit. The light comes on, and you get people singing along. This was new to the members of Brother Moses, and that’s what led to James daydreaming after the set.

If they’re still a secret to much of the world, that might not last that long. And even if it does, things’ll be okay.

“You have to try really hard to get people to come to shows,” Matt said “but once they do, they come find you to tell you they’re here.”

In a lot of ways Brother Moses is just like Fayetteville. Tucked away in Northwest Arkansas, Fayetteville gets the luxury of being a big-time program in the SEC that people visit only when they want to. If it was up to some residents, they’d keep it that way. Condos are being developed downtown near the bars on Dickson Street, and it bothers people. They look nice, as Heckmann points out, but soon everything might look like that. That’s not what he wants. That’s not what anyone in the arts community wants either.

“Drive out 30 minutes in any direction and the stereotypes are true,” Gomez said. “But Fayetteville has some really cool stuff going on.”

Lockhart agrees.

“Fayetteville is in a nice little sweet spot between art and music and the college,” James said.

Ah yes, the college. Home of the Razorbacks and some of the most beautiful architecture in the Southeast, Arkansas is like most SEC towns: it becomes an entirely different place during football season. For the members of Brother Moses, Arkansas football has been a part of their life since they were kids. One time Tusk escaped his pen and ended up hiding under Matt’s porch. John-Lewis’ dad, who is a full-fledged fighter pilot and still flies planes, used to let Anderson help him stand way up top and guide the flyovers before games. Lockhart’s dad was in the school band for the team’s Sugar Bowl appearance in 1980 (a loss to Alabama) and has the jacket to prove it – well, had, until James borrowed it. Matt claims he was the first person to rush the field against LSU in 2014. (A police officer threatened to arrest him and tried to grab him by the coat, and he shimmied out of the coat and ran on the field anyway.)

Conversations over lunch at Hammontree’s or pizza from Eureka drift to old seasons. Stats, games they went to, Darren McFadden highlights, or comparing quarterbacks to guys like Mitch Mustain or Ryan Mallett. While Arkansas is always right there, there’s always a roadblock to that special season.

“I’ve lived in Fayetteville for 20 years and the beef I have with Arkansas is we can hang with anyone but we don’t finish games well,” Heckmann says. “Every time it happens it rips my heart out and shows it to me.”

The general sense heading into the game against Ole Miss was that this would happen again, but nobody could predict how or what would cause it. Wandering from tailgate to tailgate and bar to bar, everyone was welcoming and friendly. They’re happy you made it down, but they just don’t want you telling too many people.

“It’s got all the cool stuff that Nashville has,” one of the managers of George’s, the oldest continually operating music venue in Fayetteville, told me. “But it hasn’t blown up yet. We’d like to keep it that way.”

The owner of George’s always gets calls to buy the place, but he keeps holding on. He likes it the way it is. It’s got classic charm and brings new acts through. Above the bar is the biggest (and oldest) collection of Arkansas yearbooks out there, dating back to the early 1900s. People of all ages come through and ask about their graduating year so they can sign next to their name.

The game against the Rebels is classic Razorbacks, one that would’ve fit in during any number of graduating years. Arkansas is in control throughout, but can’t quite put Ole Miss away. With a four-point lead in the fourth quarter and the Rebs pinned back at their own 10, there’s still a sense the bottom might drop out.

The band has taken to eating rally kettlecorn out of nervousness.

“In Fayetteville you need rally corn even if things are going extremely in your favor,” James said. “You need to cross every finger.”

A few plays later, Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen is intercepted, and Ole Miss scores on the ensuing drive to go up 30-27. But the darnedest thing happens. The Razorbacks answer, and hold Ole Miss with strong defense to close it out. 34-30. Final. And no storming the field this time around.

The remainder of the rally corn gets thrown in the air, and in people’s hair, and litters the seats around the band. The perfect weekend just got a little more perfect, and it’s time to celebrate at Smoke & Barrel.

“All of us used to be significantly less happy than we are today,” Lockhart said. “If things aren’t so good, they’re someday going to get better.”

Somewhere in the background a whiskey glass broke. And a band on the stage inside started tuning their instruments.

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