The seeds of the country-rock outfit known as Convoy! were sown when singer/songwriter and guitarist Noah Slater moved from his native Toronto to Northfield, MN, to attend Carleton University. There he met a fellow student and Red Wing, MN-native named Scott Wells, whom he befriended and began playing music with. The pair, plus drummer John McCarthy and multi-instrumentalist Kathryn Hobgood, began playing the campus venue, the Cave, as the rag-tag roots rock outfit Workhorse. It was at these shows where they met Nate Johnson, the Cave's booking agent and co-owner of the fledgling Fighting Electric Records label, who would eventually record the band's sole LP, the adroitly titled Album. When the short-lived Workhorse party ended, Slater and Wells turned to the personnel of Wells' other band, Nationale, in hopes of reviving the inspired country-punk agenda of their previous group. Enter Alex Achen, Nationale's boisterous guitarist and lead singer; Achen wound up a perfect fit on the drum kit, and Convoy! was born. In 1999, the newly formed combo released a self-titled debut as the first proper Fighting Electric release. The album was a fine -- if messy -- debut, and brought the band to the attention of local publications and Turf Club regulars. In 2001, Convoy! released their sophomore album for Fighting Electric, Fleur de Lis, the title of which references Slater's Québécois upbringing, as well as the importance of the traditional French symbol to the early-'90s underground rock scene in Louisville, KY. The album was a much more accomplished example of Convoy!'s unique, semi-traditionalist country-rock, and earned the group more critical praise. ~ Bryan Carroll, Rovi
