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Girls With Guitars
THE BAND HAS only been together since July of last year, but already they're the favorite group in this TAMMIES genre."It started off as a duo with Bunny Kirby (a former guitarist with the band) and I," says vocalist/acoustic guitarist/bassist Sabra Faulk. "I kept getting calls for band jobs and before I knew it I had Gillian (DeLear) playing drums and Tina (Carson-acoustic guitar and vocals) in there, plugging away as a group. It's a lot more fun."
Part of the original idea behind the formation of the "new country" group was to emphasize the reality that women play music in this male-dominated world.
"The fact that they write, record and play is sometimes overlooked. Now I think it's starting to really come together. The songs that we cover are mostly by women: Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Gretchen Peters, Shawn Colvin and Melissa Etheridge. We just try to cover as many women as possible because I think women are sometimes overshadowed.
"For years Loretta Lynn was a songwriter long before anybody really paid attention to that fact, they paid more attention to her singing. And all her songs were good ol' girl tunes. Lynn and others have proven that they can be strong songwriters, they can be strong singers and still be women and not give up anything to be who they are. By proving that, it's made it a lot easier for women to be acknowledged."
Faulk is rightfully proud that her group also plays country originals penned by herself, Carson and Kirby.
"I'm not the least bit bitter, I don't want it to sound like that. In fact, the first country performer I was completely enamored with was Merle Haggard. That sounds so trite because most country players say that," she says. "But he's a major influence, as was Patsy Cline, and then some of the newer artists like Mary-Chapin, Wynonna Judd and Trisha Yearwood."
Faulk says Girls With Guitars has a couple of immediate goals to meet: finding a fourth member to replace Kirby and recording and releasing their first album sometime this year.
"This is my whole existence right now--Girls With Guitars. Anything that's a baby, like this group, takes a lot of energy to keep it together."
"I'm really enjoying playing with girls, because it's a whole different world than playing with guys. I love playing with guys and I love playing in bands with men. My issue isn't that I don't want to play with men, I'm just having a blast doing this."
--Michael Metzger
Chuck Wagon And The Wheels
IT WAS 1979 when Chuck Wagon and The Wheels became part of music history. The Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers were scheduled to play a doubleheader (that's baseball lingo, for you unenlightened ones) featuring a "disco demolition" between games.
Chicago disc jockey Steve Dahl had been urging his listeners to bring their disco albums to Comiskey Park so that he could blow them up and help end the disco blight on the land. Chuck Wagon and The Wheels had a country swinging, rock and rolling song called "Disco Sucks" that Dahl and other DJs around the country were using as a rallying cry. Unfortunately, the disco demolition turned into a drunken brawl (it was 50-cent beer night, as well), the second game was cancelled (with ensuing media backlash) and the Wheels never again got as close to a national breakthrough with their country rock again.
But you can still hear Chuck Maultsby (lead vocals and songwriter), Tim O'Connor (fiddle, sax, banjo, mandolin and backing vocals), Jay Quiros (guitar), Rob Francis (keyboards), John Jude (bass) and Ernie Mendoza (drums) trash disco and rave up country whenever you can catch them at one of their rare club gigs.
--Michael Metzger
