Llama

A trio of Nashville high-school friends—Ben Brown on electric guitar, Neil Mason behind the drums, and Ben Morton delivering vocals with acoustic guitar—launched the band Llama, first performing under the name Dahlia Llama. Their break arrived in storied fashion when producers and musicians Kenny Greenberg and Matt Rollings spotted the group at a hometown pizzeria, instantly grasped their unpolished ability, and steered them toward a swift signing with MCA Records.

Over a two-year stretch that coincided with the members finishing secondary school, the label brought out Close to the Silence in the first months of 2001 and sent the act straight onto the touring circuit. The album displayed the trio’s acoustic-guitar foundation fused with driving rhythms in a manner echoing Dave Matthews, foregrounding the forceful delivery of Morton’s still-youthful voice. Greenberg and Rollings stayed involved as collaborators, joined by banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck. The young musicians logged most of 2001 on the road, sketching their prospects inside an industry that routinely discards newcomers. The following year they released the EP The World From Here.