Based in Brooklyn, the Flanks have been playing in venues all over the New York City area and beyond since 2002. They've appeared in a nationally televised commercial for Sylvania light bulbs, played a gig in front of thousands at a NASCAR race, and performed at Esquire magazine's annual Kentucky Derby Celebration. Mainstays of the Brooklyn Country Music scene, they've shared the bill with roots music favorites such as the Hackensaw Boys and held residencies at Pete's Candy Store and Galapagos Arts Space. They have performed live in-studio on New York Public Radio's Soundcheck, and their music has been heard on numerous radio stations.
Members of the Flanks first met in Brooklyn, arriving there from Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Hampshire, California, and exit 9 of the New Jersey Turnpike. Their barroom-friendly, original, lyric-driven music draws on old-time, jug band, pre-war blues, bluegrass, honky-tonk, and outlaw styles, as well as rock influences like The Band and Little Feat.
Driven by full harmonies and rough around every edge, the thoroughly live sound of the Flanks—dubbed by some as "dirty country"—has won widespread admiration for the group among audiences all over the East Coast.
One day the Flanks hope to be as eloquent as John Prine and as sweaty as Muddy Waters.
