Confederate Railroad

Confederate Railroad
Confederate Railroad (l-r: Wayne Secrest, Cody McCarver, Mark Dufresne, Danny Shirley, Gates Nichols, Jimmy Dormire)
Background information
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Genres	Country
Years active	1987-present
Labels	Atlantic, Audium, Shanachie
Associated acts	David Allan Coe
Website	http://www.confederaterailroad.net
Members
Mark Dufresne Rusty Hendrix Cody McCarver Wayne Secrest Danny Shirley
Former members
Jimmy Dormire Chris McDaniel Michael Lamb Gates Nichols

Confederate Railroad is an American country music band founded in 1984 in Marietta, Georgia by Danny Shirley (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Michael Lamb (lead guitar), Mark Dufresne (drums), Chris McDaniel (keyboards), Warren "Gates" Nichols (steel guitar) and Wayne Secrest (bass guitar). After serving as a backing band for outlaw country act David Allan Coe, the band signed to a recording contract with Atlantic Records, releasing their self-titled debut album that year. Throughout the 1990s, they released four more albums for Atlantic.

Confederate Railroad has released six studio albums. In addition, more than twenty of their singles have entered the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Only two changes in membership have occurred, both in the late 1990s-early 2000s: Michael Lamb was replaced by Jimmy Dormire on lead guitar, and Cody McCarver took over for Chris McDaniel, the band's original keyboardist. In addition to his work with Confederate Railroad, McCarver has released one solo album and two singles. Dormire was replaced in 2008 by Rusty Hendrix.

The band's most recent compilation, a compilation of cover songs entitled Cheap Thrills, was issued on the independent Shanachie label in 2007.

History

This section requires expansion with: more info on formative years and on sales.

Confederate Railroad was founded in 1987 by Danny Shirley, Michael Lamb, Gates Nichols, Chris McDaniel, Wayne Secrest, and Mark Dufresne. The six members began playing at bars in and around Atlanta, Georgia.^[1] Over time, they also worked as a road band for David Allan Coe and Johnny Paycheck. Shirley had previously been signed to the Amor record label as a solo singer, charting five times on the country charts between 1984 and 1988.^[2]

After several years in the Atlanta area, the band signed with Atlantic Records in 1992 and released its self-titled debut album. The album produced six hit singles and was certified 2× Multi-Platinum in the U.S.^[1] In 1993, Confederate Railroad was awarded Best New Group at the ACM awards.^[3] In order of release, these singles were "She Took It Like a Man", "Jesus and Mama", "Queen of Memphis" (their highest chart peak, at #2), "When You Leave That Way You Can Never Go Back", "Trashy Women" and "She Never Cried".

Notorious was the title of the band's second album. Released in 1994, it was certified platinum as well. The album was led off by the #9 "Daddy Never Was the Cadillac Kind", followed by the #20 "Elvis and Andy" and finally "Summer in Dixie", which failed to make Top 40.

One year later, the band released its third album, 1995's When and Where. This album failed to sell as well as its predecessors, and was less successful on the charts as well. Lead-off single "When and Where" reached #24, while the other three singles — "Bill's Laundromat, Bar and Grill", "When He Was My Age" and "See Ya" — all failed to reach Top 40. A Greatest Hits package followed in 1996.

In 1998, the band released its fourth and final studio album for Atlantic, entitled Keep on Rockin'. Its only two singles were "The Big One" and "Cowboy Cadillac", which both failed to reach Top 60 on the country singles charts. After another compilation entitled Rockin' Country Party Pack (which produced another chart single in "Toss a Little Bone", previously from When and Where), the band exited Atlantic.

One year later, Confederate Railroad signed to Audium/Koch Records (now E1 Music) for its fifth studio album, Unleashed. It was led off by the #39 "What Brothers Do". Although this was the band's first Top 40 country hit since "When and Where" in 1995, the other singles — "She Treats Her Body Like a Temple" and "White Trash with Money" — both failed to reach Top 40 as well.

The band did not record again until 2007's Cheap Thrills, an album composed of cover songs. This album was led off by a cover of "Please Come to Boston", which failed to chart.

Musical stylings

This section requires expansion.

Described vocally as a "gruff, reliable twanger",^[4] lead singer Danny Shirley cites outlaw country acts such as Waylon Jennings as his major influence.^[5] According to him, the band's music is "straight-ahead outlaw country",^[5] although their image has also drawn comparisons to Southern rock.^[1]

Confederate Railroad's novelty numbers, such as "Trashy Women", show a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. A reviewer for New Country magazine wrote that they are "one of the few bands who can pull off a song about how they prefer trashy women and sound like they really mean it".^[4][6] A more serious side of the band is shown in their ballads. Those on Notorious, for instance, were described by New Country magazine as "show[ing] men left stunned and confused by a world that changed faster than they could follow".^[5]

Member changes

Lead guitarist Michael Lamb, one of the group's original members, left in the mid 1990s and was replaced with Jimmy Dormire. Chris McDaniel, the keyboardist, left and was replaced with Cody McCarver.^[1] McCarver has released a solo album, although he continues to tour as a member of Confederate Railroad as well. In June 2008, Jimmy Dormire announced that he was leaving Confederate Railroad to continue his solo career. He was replaced by Rusty Hendrix. Gates Nichols retired from Confederate Railroad in December 2008, and in the following July, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He succumbed to the disease on August 14, 2009.^[7]

Solo contributions

In addition to his work in the band, frontman Danny Shirley made a guest appearance alongside Mark Collie on the song "Redneck Heaven" from Billy Ray Cyrus' 1994 album Storm in the Heartland, a song which Collie and Shirley co-wrote. Cody McCarver released a self-titled solo album for the Aspirion label in 2006, which produced the non-charting singles "Red Flag" and "Through God's Eyes". He released another single, "Look What You've Done", in 2009.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

• Confederate Railroad Official Website
• Cody McCarver Official Website
• Jimmy Dormire Official Website
• Confederate Railroad at MySpace