Two things we are always asked about: how did you come up with the name for the band and what does the name of the album mean? Here is the answer to both!

     When I was stationed at Camp Lejeune in 1990 while serving as a “Doc" (a combat medic) for the USMC's 2nd Battalion we earned a bit of of a reputation shall we say. We earned the highly coveted “base ”Super Squad" competition and Alpha Company made sure everyone knew it. There was a running joke that if trouble was happening and we didn't start it we were on the way to make it worse. People get nicknames in the service based on what they talk about all the time and since i grew up in Arkansas just across the bridge from Memphis and talked about Memphis constantly “Memphis” became my nickname.  Before long when trouble started people were quick to yell  “go get Memphis & those Misfits and get them in here ”……..fast forward to last year. We had recorded the first two singles we wrote with Doug Shanklin and i had sent them to a few dj's just for some feedback. I received a call from one that wanted to play them and he asked me the name of the band-we hadn't even talked about it as a group and “Memphis & the Misfits” came out before i even realized it. And here we are…..

     “Halfway to Number Nine ” is both literal and figurative. Number Nine is both a real place with some of the most fertile land and wonderful people in the Delta but it's also figurative. It is a representation of home which is different for everybody.  The album cover signifies being a long way from home yet thinking about trying to get back there as a working musician.  We all get that nostalgia from time to time. While the album speaks about my literal home i hope that it strikes a remembrance in every listener of the pleasant places we all want to revisit sometime.   It's all very real!

Memphis

…..i never had a dream in my head to front a band. I've been a bass player happy to be in a supportive role for all of my years playing music. I did have a lot of thoughts in my head and things i wanted to say about where i grew up in the Delta, the place i call home, the people around me then and the music , culture and influences that my young years incubated in.  From my perspective life in our small town growing up was like scenes from popular movies of the time-part Cool Hand Luke, part Blues Brothers, and part Every Which Way But Loose and part Walking Tall. With plenty of real life characters to cast from. There was always music around-and musical influences. Every time you sat down for lunch at one of the local cafes you had someone in the place that used to tour with someone. We had guys that had backed blues legends. Farmers that drove a tractor every day that used to be in Jimmy Buffet's band-they came home to work the family farm while others from our area continue on the road with Jimmy until his recent passing. Soul acts. Southern gospel. Black gospel music that was so good it would give you chills. From “Dewey & the Biscuithounds” to the “ Y. S. O.-aka the Yarbro Symphony Orchestra-a prog rock band dedicated to covering Yes, Rush and their own prog originals everything was covered musically within our community.

Within an hour i could be on Beale St or in any one of the hundreds of clubs and juke joints surrounding us in NE Arkansas, Memphis or NW Mississippi. I was both attending blues acts at various places around our region by the age of 16 and playing in them as well with a variety of bands. 

Experience gives a person the ability to look back and appreciate what could have been taken for granted. I didn't realize it at the time but i was being given a rich glimpse of our musical heritage without even appreciating it in the moment. My hope as i continue writing music is to rely heavily on those influences and experiences as a tribute to them. The music of the blues should always be a history lesson. It should always lead you to someone a little further back. It should always tell a little bit of a story that causes one to be curious. I can't tell the story of the blues because it isn't my story to tell and to try and do so would make me an imposter. But i can share my experiences and weave those experiences into my own music as we've done here. Halfway to Number Nine is my thank you to my beginnings and those strong people and influences that shaped me. The song itself references an old country store with a pot bellied stove, moonshine and dice rolling farmhands just like it says. Walk That Line pays tribute to the working men that ventured North in the Depression to survive and left the one they loved back home. Muddy Waters was one of them…..Simple Life is a look back from today and is asking the big questions we're all asking…….simple, honest, authentic and original music. That tells our story, tells the old stories of the blues and entertains. That's all we want. Join us.

Halfway to Number is available now!