Why a Nashville-based parody band sold out the Wilbur in minutes
Hint: His name is Bobby Bones.
Bobby Bones (right) with his Raging Idiots bandmate, “Producer Eddie.’’
The Wilbur Theater has hosted comedy greats like Joel McHale, Jimmy Fallon, Bill Maher and Joan Rivers.
Also playing the Wilbur this month? The lesser known Nashville-based parody band, Bobby Bones and The Raging Idiots—who sold out the 1,000-person space in minutes. By comparison, it took almost a full day for Tracy Morgan to sell out his first “Picking Up The Pieces’’ stop at the venue, according to Andrew Mather, director of marketing for the Wilbur.
So how is a national radio host and his band based in Nashville starting to gain popularity in a city where morning shows have long been dominated by local personalities?
It all starts and ends with Bobby Bones.
Bobby Bones.
The iHeartRadio and 101.7 The Bull morning show host, comedian, soon-to-be author, and self-proclaimed nerd with thick, black-framed glasses has more of a following in Boston than Mather said he ever expected.
“We didn’t know what to think of Bones and the act at first per say, but country in general is a hot topic,’’ he said. “…The amount of tweets even we got when this was announced was sizeable, so it shows people are really superfans of what he’s doing.’’
Bones’s CMA-winning morning show, The Bobby Bones Show, reaches 3.5 million listeners weekly and streams to 90 country music stations across the U.S., including Boston’s newest country station.
WBWL 101.7 The Bull has almost doubled its listeners since this time last year, in part, to Bones’s morning show, according to the station’s program director Lance Houston.
Houston said for many country listeners, the show’s proximity to their favorite artists, on Music Row, is what makes it popular. Musicians come into the show’s studio “almost daily,’’ performing live, giving exclusive interviews, or even playing games like helium karaoke.
“The history of Boston radio is that local always does well and usually better than a national show, but it doesn’t always have to be local if the content is good, and we can offer something that’s different and younger than our competitor,’’ Houston said, referencing WKLB, which announced this month that it’s relaunching its morning show without 13-year veteran hosts John Willis (JW) and Lori Grande.
A group photo of the Bobby Bones show.
Bones also credited part of his success to the show’s ability to “out human’’ everyone with honesty, a characteristic he thinks people of Boston in particular can identify with—and the stamp of approval from Kiss 108’s Matt Siegal didn’t hurt, either..
“Boston people are so real, and it just reminds me about how I grew up’’ Bones said. “There’s not a lot of pretention. It’s just a real life human, it’s a real life town, and that’s what I love about it.’’
He said he thinks The Raging Idiots, which raises money for charities like St. Jude’s Hospital, has experienced success because of the morning show, and couldn’t be more grateful to its listeners.
“Boston has always been awesome to us, and it’s been crazy to grow with a new radio station, and actually have our morning show do great, and then on the day we sell our tickets for our Wilbur show have it sell out in less than 30 minutes,’’ he said.
The band originated as a fake opener for Bones’s solo comedy act, but in 2014 he partnered with Eddie Garcia, known as “Producer Eddie’’ on the show, to raise more than $2 million for charities.
Bones writes the lyrics for all musical comedy act’s songs, turning country hits like “Girl Crush’’ into “Food Crush.’’
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Country artists are even getting in on the joke. The band has performed with country superstars like Toby Keith, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, and Florida Georgia Line.
Chris Janson even starred as Bobby Bones in the band’s music video parody of his song “Buy Me A Boat,’’ which was adapted to “Buy Me A Goat.’’
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The band also writes completely original comedy songs. Their newest “If I Was Your Boyfriend’’ is currently climbing the iTunes top 100 country chart.
“We’re not going to win any CMAs for vocalist of the year, but we try hard and we’re excited to meet all the [Boston] listeners,’’ Bones said.
Bones added he is “super excited’’ that the duo will host their first Boston show at the Wilbur, which is why they held off on coming to the city until a spot at the venue opened up.
“You look at like Tracy Morgan playing [at the Wilbur] before us, just like everybody that’s anyone in comedy, so that’s where I wanted to go,’’ he said. “I wanted to be on the same stage as one of the greats. I’m not great, but I wanted to stand where they stand, and at least give it a shot.’’
The Raging Idiots are playing at the Wilbur Theater in Boston on Saturday, February 27.
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