Eli Young Band Take On Will Hoge: “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”

I’ve been vaguely aware of the Eli Young Band’s existence for a while now, but have never really been compelled to seek them out until I spotted their latest entry on the Billboard country charts – a song called “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”. I recognized the title of the song from a song recorded by singer-songwriter Will Hoge a couple of years ago for his album The Wreakage. Could it be the same song? It sure is!
And it’s a great one. Hoge’s song about persevering in a dream – specifically the dream of making it big (or even just making a living) as a musician – deserved to be a bigger radio hit than it was. Had it come out during the late-90s Wallflowers-Counting Crows-Tonic-Matchbox Twenty moment, it just might have been.

Some of the Hoge fans commenting on the Eli Young video have been less than charitable, but I think it’s great that this song is finally a hit for someone. It’s reaching more people than it ever would have otherwise, and not only will the song have a longer “life expectancy” as a result, but it will also inevitably introduce more people to Hoge’s original, and by extension, his whole body of work. Last year, Hoge released his seventh studio album called… Number Seven. Here’s his latest single: “When I Get My Wings.”