Eli Young Band | "Even If It Breaks Your Heart"

Eli Young Band has premiered an emotional video for the latest single "Even if It Breaks Your Heart," the first track appears on their debut record with Republic Nashville, "Life At Best." The Denton, Texas, foursome is still riding high on and having enjoyed immense success this past year with their catchiest country single "Crazy Girl," that topped charts for the latter half of 2011, "Even if it Breaks Your Heart" has a lot of expectations to live up to.
Instantly familiar, the new tune gets a heartwarming and aesthetically-pleasing video treatment. It was difficult not to slobber with envy when we saw that wall full of "beat up, old guitars." This track is strongly reminiscent of their first release back in 2002. The soft rhythmic guitar intro reminds me a lot of "Show You How To Love Again," and as always, Mike Eli's voice resonates smooth, honest, and full of soul that is both surprising and comforting. The song is slightly reminiscent of the feel-good style of "Walking in Memphis," and the setting of the video perfectly encompasses that feel.
Filmed in Gruhn Guitars in downtown Nashville with the feel of a classic American country rock song, the Brian Lazzaro-directed video flashes between the band performing live in the shop and young people searching for fame and fortune in Nashville. It starts with what looks like a flashback of two young boys peeking and playing drums in the guitar shop, an older, more tattered guitar man from outside the shop comes into the shop to sell his guitar, as though he's just given up on the dream. But as he stands there with the fresh cash in hand, the boy comes up and gets him to autograph one of his records. And that changes everything. Inspired by this glimmer of a memory, the man hands back the money and picks his dream back up with a newfound hope.
"It's the message and the story of the band," drummer Chris Thompson told CMT. "It's twofold. Lyrically, the story relates to what the four of us have been through, developing our career - slowly, gradually building this thing. But the underlying message of the storyline is hope and optimism. We've always had a lot of hope and optimism in what we've done, and we've always believed in ourselves and tried to keep pushing to see what's around the corner. We're shooting for the next biggest thing, and I think that's the key to our success over a long amount of time together."