Daniel Ellsworth & the Great Lakes to play The Bishop

Four-piece indie-pop group Daniel Ellsworth & the Great Lakes had the type of year that every young band from Nashville, Tenn., works toward.

The band’s new album, “Civilized Man,” garnered spots on a couple major year-end lists for its standout track “Shoe Fits.” On top of that, frontman Ellsworth stole some bonus exposure by appearing on NBC’s a cappella competition show “The Sing-Off,” placing eighth out of 16 competing groups.

Ellsworth and his band, which will perform at 9 p.m. Thursday at The Bishop with local band Busman’s Holiday, spoke with Live Buzz earlier this week about their 2011 achievements and aims for 2012.

LIVE BUZZ Your band had a big year in 2011. You released “Civilized Man,” which landed you in Amazon’s Top 10 songs of the year and their Top 100 albums of the year. Do you consider 2011 your band’s breakout year and could you talk about those highlights?

DANIEL ELLSWORTH 2011 was an interesting year because we had some good things happen as far as accomplishments, especially being a band that’s doing things completely independent. So it’s been cool to have the recognition of things like that. It’s been an interesting year because the album came out in May 2011, but this is really the first that we’ve been able to do any major touring on it. Actually, in the better part of the end of 2011, I was in L.A. shooting a television show for NBC (“The Sing-Off”). So it was a good year, but I hope 2012 will be more of a breakout year for us in terms of being out there and playing.

LIVE BUZZ What other current artists or albums have the Great Lakes been interested in lately?

JOEL WREN I think we’ve all been a fan of the new Wilco album. Another record that came out this year that I personally am falling in love with was the St. Vincent record “Strange Mercy.” Great follow-up to the one before it, “Actor.”

For the full interview, pick up tomorrow's edition of the IDS.