Rivals layer lush harmonies and foot stomping energy with a head for lyrics and a nod to their outlaw country heroes. Walking the line between unabashedly old school and eclectic, Rivals of the Peacemaker are all about their roots, loving Emmylou Harris and Motorhead in the same breath and playing shows that take you from the dance floor to the heart, and back again.
Rivals show their love for a wide range of music with influences from country, rock, blues, Americana – The band drifts between genres weaving stories of rebels and sweethearts, heartbreaks and revenge.
Fronted by Alex Watson and Billy Watson, the two personify rowdy and romantic. Taking turns on lead vocals, The Watsons play off each other and take you for a ride. Rivals usually play as a six piece, with a tight knit band behind them – veteran players of the Chicago music scene on guitar, lap steel, and rhythm, and bringing in friends on mandolin, violin, harmonica, banjo and more. They play as an acoustic duo in select venues with Billy Watson on guitar and Alex Watson dividing time between guitar and washboard.
Rivals of the peacemaker has built a solid foundation on original music, a few choice covers and a rip roarin’ live show. Rivals have been featured artists on the Shure Give it Voice Tour, Do312, Rukus Radio, Taste of Madison, Q106 Country Showdown, and WLUW, and are currently completing their debut album to be released in the Winter 2011

All good ideas start by about the fourth drink. In this case, it’s four pints of a strong stout. The local beer variety store, Smiley’s, carried growlers of it, so we figured what the hell, lets try it on draft. After all, we are brewers and musicians – arms manufacturers in the war against prohibition; The front line soldiers in the war against boredom. Therein lies the problem: we were completely fucking bored. The battle was not going well. We were in a band together. It was a good band, a damn fine one, but slow moving. A show once or twice a month, and no chance to tour outside of the occasional weekend out of town. Playing shows at the same five or so clubs. My own tension was rising, between a dead end job, a girl that just left me, and the frustration of a part time band, I was starting to genuinely go insane. I’ve got travelers blood, really. I’d spend whatever time I could burning gasoline and midnight oil, going as far as I could while making it back in time for work the next day. All the while, I was writing all of my jukebox and beatnik dreams down on any random scrap of paper I could find – A proper madman, completely in love with the world and completely in hate with the fact that I hadn’t figured out a way to go see more of it.