The title of the Matt Poss Band’s latest album, Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride, could be a personal mission statement as much as an album title. It dares you to take a chance on a ragtag pack of midwestern misfits and jump headlong into the night of endless possibilities. It’s your personal invitation to join the tribe, and what a tribe it is. It's not unusual to see packed roadhouses, clubs, halls, barns, and festivals full of “PossE” members singing along at the top of their lungs. It’s also not unusual for new fans to think that this band suddenly appeared out of nowhere, when in reality they've been paying their dues for years, performing across the Midwest and literally the world - and like a slow train comin’, steadily growing and building momentum as they go. New fans are drawn in by the songs, the musicianship and the dynamic live shows, but they stick around because of the musicians who make up the group. This is a group of real, hard-working, fun loving, blue collar guys out trying to make a living doing what they love and they're bringing you along for the ride. Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride was released in November of 2011. Recorded in Nashville over the course of about a year and a half, it's the fourth album to spring forth from the Matt Poss Band camp since 2003. About the new disc, Matt Poss says: "This record definitely shows our growth in terms of songwriting, as well as an improved depth of musicianship, and we think our fans will really like it. The progress from the first record to this one is tremendous and we're quite proud of it." Matt Poss, the fiercely independent band founder, primary songwriter and front-man, has an amped-up and banged-up take on classic country music, honed by the road - sometimes as just a man and his guitar, most times with his scrappy band, but always taking in the vistas and humanity before him. “It comes down to the songs and the people,” he says. "You write about what you see, the things that cross your mind… and then you wanna get out there and play it back to ‘em. You kinda know how you’re doing when you see how the people respond.” The members of Matt Poss Band all grew up in Central and Southern Illinois. Poss lived within throwing distance of the North Central Line, the same tracks that carry the famed “City of New Orleans”. It’s a land of vast oceans of corn, muddy streams, black dirt, endless highways and biways, and not much to do on a Saturday night. The juxtaposition of motion and stagnation permeate his songwriting and Poss excels in capturing the conflict. “Everyone grew up listening to and watching the interstates, dreaming of the day they would pack up and hit the road. The catch is, once you’ve lived here for so long it grows on you or you just get stuck here. Stuck by choice or by circumstance and that’s what makes up a large amount of my material…that dilemma.” He continues, “It’s a great part of the country, full of history, stories and good people. It’s a great place for a songwriter to grow up.” Although the band hails from Southern Illinois, they rarely play there these days. With a relentless tour schedule, it’s a compliment to say that this group stays true to itself no matter where they play, and yet they seem to adapt and blend in wherever they go. The incisive songs and infectious beats play just as well in shitkicker bars as they do at hippie-dippy festivals, even somewhere as organic as American Public Radio’s “Mountain Stage” concert series, or a biker party in the middle of a field. In 2009 and 2010, Matt Poss Band successfully headlined the Pickup Truck Tour across the Midwest, deep South, and Texas, and also managed to squeeze in USO/AFE tours to Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan to perform for U.S. troops in and around war zones. In between the headlining dates and USO/AFE tours, the band has managed to open shows and share the stage with some heavy hitters over the last few years. Some of these would include Eric Church, Shooter Jennings, David Allan Coe, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Georgia Satellites, Blackberry Smoke, Lady Antebellum, Pat Green, Miranda Lambert, Gary Allan and Brantley Gilbert. "We keep getting the calls," says Matt, "it’s nice getting invitations from artists we admire. We're not picky - we like to play." While the band strongly identifies with the country music scene and continues to have success in that genre, it's not an easily categorized crowd that appears at the shows. Cowboys, rednecks, truckers, hippies, bikers, and yuppies can be found arm in arm singing along to songs like “3 Bricks Shy” and “Jack Rabbit”. Loyal country fans show up in droves, but the band also appeals to lovers of rock, bluegrass and everything in between. When it’s all said and done, it makes perfect sense. Appropriately, the band say they've composed a new slogan that goes something like this: "Sounds like Country, Feels like Rock, Tastes like Chicken." Damned right.