St. Paul and The Broken Bones

St. Paul and The Broken Bones
Paul Janeway at Bluesfest Byron Bay, March 2016
Background information
Origin	Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Genres	Southern soul, soul
Instruments	Keyboard, bass guitar, guitar, drums, trombone, trumpet
Years active	2012–present
Labels	RECORDS, Single Lock Records
Website	stpaulandthebrokenbones.com
Members	Paul Janeway Jesse Phillips Browan Lollar Andrew Lee Al Gamble Allen Branstetter Jason Mingledorff Chad Fisher
Past members	Ben Griner James Brangle

St. Paul and The Broken Bones is a six-piece soul band based in Birmingham, Alabama, United States that formed in 2012. The band is composed of Paul Janeway (vocals), Browan Lollar (guitar), Jesse Phillips (bass), Andrew Lee (drums), Al Gamble (keys), and Allen Branstetter (trumpet). The band tours with both trombone and baritone saxophone as well. They have released two albums and two EPs while touring internationally.

Vocalist Paul Janeway and bassist Jesse Phillips met in the mid-2000s while playing in Birmingham as part of the alternative soul outfit The Secret Dangers. In 2012, Jesse and Paul met back in Ol' Elegante Studios in Birmingham to start a new project. Janeway says of the project with Phillips, "It was going to be our last hurrah" before focusing on other careers, "but then something just clicked and we walked out of there with something." As the two began working around Janeway's voice, they realized they were forming a soul outfit. As the project progressed, the pair brought in Browan Lollar, formerly of The 400 Unit, Andrew Lee, Ben Griner, and Allen Branstetter. Here, they recorded their first EP, Greetings from St. Paul and The Broken Bones before ever playing a live show.

After releasing Greetings from St. Paul and The Broken Bones, the band gained attention from managers and labels alike. In January 2013, they began recording their first full length album, Half the City, at the Nutthouse Recording Studios Sheffield, Alabama and Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. While recording the album, the band brought in Al Gamble to play keys. Gamble continued to play with St. Paul and The Broken Bones and has been a full time member since January 2014. Half the City was produced by Ben Tanner of the Alabama Shakes.

In February 2013, St. Paul and The Broken Bones gained the attention of Traci Thomas of Thirty Tigers, who signed on as their manager. Shortly thereafter, they began weekend touring on their Greetings from St. Paul and The Broken Bones EP, waiting for the horn players to graduate college before embarking on more extensive touring.

On February 18, 2014, the LP was released under Single Lock Records, a Florence, AL record label owned by Ben Tanner, Will Trapp, and John Paul White of The Civil Wars. Immediately, Half the City received critical acclaim from many national journalistic outlets including Paste magazine, Garden and Gun, Southern Living,Rolling Stone, and NPR. In its first week of sales, Half the City reached #62 on the Billboard 200 charts. After major stories by NPR Morning Edition and a national television debut on CBS This Morning: Saturday, St. Paul and The Broken Bones' debut album reached #56 on the Billboard 200. In addition to their own tour, the band opened for The Rolling Stones' Zip Code tour in Atlanta, Georgia on June 9, 2015 and in Buffalo, New York on July 11, 2015. They performed "All I Ever Wonder" live on BBC2 from the Glastonbury Festival on June 25, 2016. Played Celtic Connections festival Januuary 2017.