It’s that time again where I get to highlight one of my favorite under-the-radar bands, and I even get to do it for charity!. This time it’s Fair to Midland. Formed in Texas in the late 90s, these guys came to my attention in the early 00’s, along with other similar artists like Karnivool, Cog, The Butterfly Effect (a lot of the Aussie prog, actually). I like to describe them as “alt-prog”, and their music was characterized by intricate instrumentation and singer Darroh Sudderth’s distinctive style. The songs are energetic and punchy, packing lots of great playing and neat ideas into their run time, but never losing the hook of the song.

Sadly, Fair to Midland is my poster child for “Bands we lost too soon”, as the band disbanded in 2013.

Beyond being just great listens, these are all really fun to play. I tend to gravitate towards “busy” instrumentation, and these songs all have that in spades. The singer is also just impressive, and his vocal lines are both acrobatic and unpredictable. They are really a perfect fit for everything I enjoy about this game.

A HUGE thanks to EzloDQ for his help with the drums. A Wolf Descends Upon the Spanish Sahara is all him, and he also went above and beyond play-testing and scrubbing through the other charts making changes (some small, some significant) so you drummers could have a good time. I could not have done it without him.

Also a shout out to MrPrez, who lent his time to give me some great feedback for Golden Parachutes.

It was really fun to highlight this amazing band for this charity event. My customs are fairly bare-bones than some of the other very impressive authors in this event, but what’s here is tremendously fun to play and I hope some of you find some enjoyment in these.

If you are excited to give these a try (or any of the hundreds of amazing tunes getting released for this event), please donate to The National Down Syndrome Society Even just $1 song that you download can make a difference.