The holiday season is in full swing with Christmas music playing on every radio station. And the Army band known the Six-String Soldiers got in on the action too with a viral hit released to Facebook.
Posted on Thanksgiving day, the band’s music video, “18 Wheel Chrome & Steel Sleigh” has been viewed more than a million times.
“I wanted to do like a truck driver type of song but for Christmas, with a Christmas setting,” Sgt. First Class Brandon Boron told Military Times. “I just got this idea for this song where something happened to Santa’s sleigh, or the reindeer and he had to take his he had to take a seat to deliver the toys.”
Boron, a musician with the U.S. Army Field Band, wrote the song and played the guitar as well as provided the vocals.
“It’s always a big thrill for us when we get such a positive reaction from the people out there,” he said. “It’s our first original that got over a million views on any kind of video I’ve done. It’s new experience for us in that respect.”
The Six-String Soldiers was started in 2015 by Master Sgt. Peter Krasulski. He and Sgt. First Class Glenn Robertson founded the band so that they could focus on creating their own style of music.
“Six-string soldiers kind of evolved out of another group that was a part of the field band around 2015,” Krasulski said. “It was also the first time that really kind of any group from the field band had started doing videos for the purpose of social media. So back in 2015, we started having our first viral videos.”
The band, which also features Staff Sgt. Joseph Bennet on guitar, mandolin, and vocals, and his wife Staff Sgt. Renee Bennet on fiddle and vocals, is currently in Nashville, where it hopes to to the produce more original music.
“That’s the long term goal is that Six-String Soldiers is playing more original music and music that is representative of who we are and the people that we represent, which are not only are not only our fellow men and women in service, but also our veterans and citizens, folks out there that support us and take care of us in the military,” Boron said.
Sarah Sicard is a Senior Editor with Military Times. She previously served as the Digitial Editor of Military Times and the Army Times Editor. Other work can be found at National Defense Magazine, Task & Purpose, and Defense News.
