The Sweet Tea Project are an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

History

2011–12: Early years

Ed Roland Edgar Eugene Roland, Jr. (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Collective Soul. He is also active with his side project ...

, frontman of the rock band

Collective Soul Collective Soul is an American rock band originally from Stockbridge, Georgia. Now based in Atlanta, the group consists of lead vocalist Ed Roland, rhythm guitarist Dean Roland, bassist Will Turpin, drummer Johnny Rabb, and lead guitarist Jes ...

, formed the Sweet Tea Project in 2011 with a group of friends and musicians. The Sweet Tea Project recorded a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "

Shelter from the Storm "Shelter from the Storm" is a song by Bob Dylan, recorded on September 17, 1974, and released on his 15th studio album, ''Blood on the Tracks'', in 1975. It was later anthologized on the compilation album ''The Essential Bob Dylan'' in 2000. Com ...

" for the

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

tribute album '' Chimes of Freedom'' (2012).

2013–16: ''Devils 'n Darlins''

The Sweet Tea Project were among eight artists who recorded a version of the ''

NBA on ESPN The ''NBA on ESPN'' is the branding used for the presentation of National Basketball Association (NBA) games on the ESPN family of networks. The ESPN cable network first televised NBA games from 1982 until 1984, and has been airing games curren ...

'' theme, as part of a contest held by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

where fans could vote for their favorite. The Sweet Tea Project won the competition, which resulted in their rendition being featured during the network's coverage of the 2013

NBA All-Star Celebrity Game The NBA All-Star Celebrity Game is an annual exhibition basketball game held by the National Basketball Association that takes place during the NBA All-Star Weekend and features retired NBA players, Women's National Basketball Association, WNBA ...

. The Sweet Tea Project's debut album, ''

Devils 'n Darlins ''Devils 'n Darlins'' is the debut studio album by American rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also ref ...

'', was released on September 3, 2013 by

429 Records 429 Records was an American record label. It was a subsidiary label of Savoy Label Group/Nippon Columbia focusing on indie rock and adult album alternative performers. In addition to releasing new material from musicians such as Dr. John, Little F ...

. The album's first single, "Love Won't Bring Us Down," was released on August 13. 429 Records noted the single received strong

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

in markets such as

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. In June 2015, a music video for the track "Just As I Am" was released.

2017–present: ''Alder Lane Farm''

In February 2017, it was announced that Roland hired Tony Caporale, the TwinBear Management founder and CEO, as the band's new manager. The Sweet Tea Project's second album, ''Alder Lane Farm'', was released on October 6, 2017. An official music video for the track "Evangeline" was released on September 29.

Origin of band name

In a 2013 interview with ESPN, Roland explained the background of the band's name: "It's a very Southern thing. We wanted to have an Americana flavor. There's nothing more American or Southern than

sweet tea Sweet tea, also known as sweet iced tea, is a popular style of iced tea commonly consumed in countries such as the United States (especially the South) and Indonesia. Sweet tea is most commonly made by adding sugar or simple syrup to black tea e ...

. That's what we grew up drinking."

Discography

Studio albums

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweet Tea Project, The 2011 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 429 Records artists Ed Roland Musical groups established in 2011 Musical groups from Atlanta Rock music groups from Georgia (U.S. state) Musical quintets