It was even suggested that Comer was somewhere a zombie movie might take place.
“That hit me kind of hard … I was like, ‘Are you freaking kidding me?’” said Holman Autry Band lead singer/bassist Casey King.
In the tradition of Lynyrd Skynyrd calling out Neil Young for his portrayal of the South, Madison County’s Holman Autry Band has fired back melodically to those comments.
The song, “Sweet Southern Wind,” tells the other side of the story, the band said. It is the title track and the first cut off the local southern rockers’ sophomore album, due out in March.
“We want everyone to know we’re from Madison County, and we’re (dang) proud of it,” drummer Brandon Myers said.
The band, which has built a strong local following since its first show in 2006, will hold its CD release party March 7 at the Georgia Theatre, a venue the group has already sold out multiple times.
With “Sweet Southern Wind” playing in the background, the band sat down Friday at its head quarters located on — where else? — Holman Autry Road, south of Danielsville, to talk about the new song, album of the same name and life as a band.
The Holman Autry Band — now a five-piece after bassist Nathan Myers parted amicably — said it took it as a challenge to rebut the unfavorable characterization attributed to Madison County.
“We wrote that song to answer that,” King said.
“It’s to answer the criticism for someone’s ignorance,” rhythm guitarist Daniel Sartain added.
Gathering around the kitchen table where they do much of their songwriting, King called attention to the lyric playing over the speakers:
The further I get from that little hour, the more I start thinking about red canna flowers and the Fourth of July Colbert parade.
“For me, out of all the songs on this CD, I spent the most time on this one,” King explained. “Because I wanted to make sure that, you know, the message was heard.”
The song “Sweet Southern Wind” not only allowed HAB (Holman Autry Band) to respond to invectives aimed at Madison County, but offered a coming-of-age experience for a young band.
Through its connection with Athens musician extraordinaire Davis Causey — who’s become something of a mentor to the band — HAB shared the studio with Chuck Leavell, a one-time member of the Allman Brothers’ Band and later a keyboardist for the Rolling Stones.
“We were working on a song and Davis was like, ‘I’m hearing some keys,’” lead guitarist Brodye Brooks said. “He said we might be able to get Chuck Leavell. Our jaws kind of dropped.”
Said Myers: “Here we are basically kids in the industry and here comes Chuck Leavell from the Rolling Stones.”
The band described the sessions with Leavell as business-like, and Leavell can be heard playing on the song “Sweet Southern Wind” as well as two other tracks.
“We’re hoping with a name like Chuck Leavell people will want to buy it (the CD),” Sartain said.
Nearing its third year of existence, the group has been called “black label country” or “Hank-tallica,” a sound formed, in part, by its aversion to pop-country dreck.
“Basically, they’re all show and no soul,” rhythm guitarist Josh Walker said of the state of today’s country acts.
With its second album complete, HAB said its sound is true to its roots, but tighter and more focused.
The hope is that “Sweet Southern Wind” broadens the band’s fan base beyond Georgia’s borders.
But, of course, song no. 1 on the record carries a home-spun message.
“This song is our gift to the people of Madison County,” King said, “to tell them thank you.”
NOTES: The first 1,000 prints of the Holman Autry Band’s album “Sweet Southern Wind” will be for sale at the CD release party March 7 at the Georgia Theatre.
