Published: 12:00 AM, Thu Sep 02, 2010
Listen Up: Honky Tonk Hustlas
Honky Tonk Hustlas gives listeners a unique blend of country music with a dash of punk rock.
It's a different type of sound for a country trio, but the Montgomery, Ala.-based act is never short of energy. Tonight, their musicianship will be on display at the Rock Shop Music Hall.
"(The audience) can expect to see a very traditional style of music played in an upbeat manner with a punk influence behind it. We're kind of country bluegrass," said Jarrad Glover, the group's founder and an upright bass player.
Glover, whose stage name is Stemp, is joined by vocalist and guitarist T. Junior and the mandolin and electric guitarist player who goes by the name Grady. Together, the Honky Tonk Hustlas aim to play country music that's traditional but raw with the fervor and energy of a rockabilly band.
The Honky Tonk Hustlas will share the stage with The Chop Tops, Hollowbody Hellraisers, Playing With Guns and The Several Devils Band.
The act released their debut album "Hallways of the Always" in 2008. And it didn't take long for buzz to build about the group on the Internet. In 2009, the Honky Tonk Hustlas were recognized in the second annual MySpace Real Country Music Awards by winning the Best Song About Cheating and Murder award for their single, "Fallen Once Again."
"Anytime someone appreciates what we do, if someone likes this, it makes the process all the better," Glover said.
The band is now gearing up to record their sophomore effort "South of Nashville" in October. The album is a long time coming, since the act is independent and has no major label backing.
"We make our albums with people who are on major labels, but we do all of this from our hard work," Glover said. "It comes straight out of our pockets as far as paying to have things recorded, paying to have thousands of records pressed up. We are totally independent musicians. The only thing we have to keep us going is the support of our fans. We appreciate that more than anything."
Glover chatted with the Weekender Street Edition about the Honky Tonk Hustlas' sound, influences and upcoming ventures.
Weekender: How did you come up with the name Honky Tonk Hustlas?
Glover: It really was more of us just joking around. We couldn't really think up any names. We were playing the honky-tonk sound, and someone said jokingly, "I got the Honky Tonk Hustlas," and we said, "OK, sure." And we played a show with it, and a lot of people talked about it, and we stuck with it.
Weekender: Who are some of the band's influences?
Glover: (Me and T. Junior) do all of the songwriting. And I guess you can say Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Hank Williams III, Wayne Hancock, and another good friend of ours, Bob Wayne. He introduced us to some good contacts in Nashville. He introduced us to Andy Gibson, who's a steel guitar player for Hank Williams III. He produced our first album in 2008. And we're going in October to make our second album.
Weekender: Yes, "South of Nashville." Where did you get the title from?
Glover: That name, "South of Nashville" is kind of a metaphor. We're physically located south of Nashville, but the music we play is a little bit south of the Nashville style. We're more traditional, and Nashville today has more of a pop sound. We like to respect the roots of where country music came from.
Weekender: How does this album stand apart from your debut, "Hallways of the Always?"
Glover: At that time, me and T. Junior went through some low points, and we really came out expressively in our music. Some songs had a typical country theme, people doing you wrong in your love life. And we had some songs about going to jail. Really overall, it was a neat album, but there are some dark and brooding themes about the album having to do with everything from internal struggles from murder and addiction from you name it, it's probably in there.
On ("South of Nashville"), it's going to be more upbeat than the first. The themes of the album won't be quite as dark as our first effort. But there's going to be a lot of good-time-having music going on. At the point that we were writing the new album, we were both in a better place than we were on the first album, as far as the success we had playing with our band. I think it's a little bit more mature. And I think that hopefully, we're going to appeal to a livelier audience without losing our base in the process. We'll be releasing that hopefully by January.
Weekender: Aside from working on your current album, what's up next? Any other projects?
Glover: I'm strictly focused on the Honky Tonk Hustlas. Everybody in the band is focused on that. I do pick up an occasional show with (independent country music artist) Joey Allcorn. But he's kind of doing his own thing, and we're kind of doing our own thing. I just do that because I like to play. But as far as any projects independent of Honky Tonk Hustlas, we're solely focused on that and getting our second album made and produced so people can enjoy it.
Staff writer Jessica De Vault can be reached at devaultj@fayobserver.com or 609-0649.