The Band

(From left to right) Dave Williams - guitars, Zach Sharenko - drums, Aaron Stephenson - bass, Russ Ledford - vocals

Morning State was bred with a batch of songs written by Russ Ledford in late 2004. Cramming the band into Dave Williams' sitting-room only attic in Atlanta with nails pointing down at them was where the band first formed and rehearsed; so, getting excited and jumping for joy was out of the question! With half the band living in Athens, GA and the other half in Atlanta, practices were few and hard to organize. Overtime though, things solidified and Morning State was born.

The band started playing shows in the Atlanta and Athens area and grew from there. Releasing their first recording in 2006, an EP entitled Retreat!!!, gave the band something to put into people's hands for the first time. Morning State started to tour up and down the east coast in early 2007, adding shows at South by Southwest (they also played at this year's SXSW) and CMJ to their roster.

Signing a record deal with a local Atlanta label in late 2007 gave the band the means to start recording their first full-length album. With three months of recording and four songs into mixing under their belt, the record label folded, forcing the band to re-record the album somewhere else. They went to DARC Studios in Athens, GA to record with longtime friend Asa Leffer. The debut album entitled You Know People I Know People was recorded over a ten day period in February 2008. The album is scheduled to be released on May 6th and will be the band's first full-length to date.