Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Music Interview: Adam Musick
...With a twin-guitar attack that sounds at times like a 1977 Cleveland, Ohio punk tribute to Derek & The Dominoes and some truly memorable lyrical couplets, Southern Bitch is easily one of the more intriguing acts to bubble up from the Classic City asphalt in a long, long while...
Nashville Scene, Nov. 14-20, 2002
On their Web site, Southern Bitch describe themselves as a cross between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd. It may seem like an unlikely pairing, but they pull it off. And they're no nostalgia act: traces of more modern indie rock influences rest alongside their '70s roots. --S.E.
Thunderbolt Review, Flagpole Magazine
...Southern Bitch has not only become a band to watch, they're a band to sweat to and rock out to, and a band not to miss...
...Plainly put, Southern Bitch blew the doors off the 40 Watt that night, perfectly complementing the Truckers show that would follow...
- Music Misfits
With a twin-guitar attack that sounds at times like a 1977 Cleveland, Ohio punk tribute to Derek & The Dominoes and some truly memorable lyrical couplets, Southern Bitch is easily one of the more intriguing acts to bubble up from the Classic City asphalt in a long, long while...
- Adam Musick
...Southern Bitch has not only become a band to watch, they're a band to sweat to and rock out to, and a band not to miss - Flagpole Magazine
On their Web site, Southern Bitch describe themselves as a cross between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd. It may seem like an unlikely pairing, but they pull it off. And they're no nostalgia act: traces of more modern indie rock influences rest alongside their '70s roots. --S.E. - Nashville Scene Nov.14-20 '02
Drive By Truckers
with Southern Bitch
The Star Bar, Atlanta, GA February 13, 2000
It was the calm before the storm. People began filtering in and walking towards the stage wearing cowboy hats and drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon. You could smell the approaching squall as Wendy from Southern Bitch placed her beer atop her guitar amp. The barometer pressure dropped as Patterson Hood tried to make his way backstage but kept getting stopped by admiring fans. It was going to be a tornado of Southern Rock at the Star Bar in Atlanta. Is Southern Rock on a comeback? Call it Southern Rock or country punk or whatever, Athens band Drive By Truckers are out to make an impact in music by bringing back rock-n-roll, and they are bringing it back with a loud Southern accent.
Southern Bitch from Athens opened the show, and it was quickly apparent why this four-piece band was chosen to accompany the Truckers. Lead singer/guitarist Adam is wonderfully deft on both guitar and vocals. And the band jammed out tunes like they were born to do it. Wendy on rhythm guitar is the only female member of the band. This led me to believe she was the "southern bitch," but I was later told that all members of the band were just the "nicest bunch of people you could meet." Southern Bitch is a new band, so I expect I'll be seeing lots more of them in Atlanta. - Roi Tamkin
The Bitch is back
Athens' Southern Bitch have been throwing up a tornado of grit for three years -- though you may not have noticed their funnel cloud until recently. But with an energetic new album, Thunderbolt, and profile-building gigs with the Drive-By Truckers, Southern Bitch just might be blowin' up while they're blowin' by.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Adam Musick moved to Athens in 1996 -- though he and his wife, guitarist/vocalist Wendy Musick, actually met at recording school in Phoenix. The punchy roots rock of the Musicks, along with bassist Chuck Bradburn and drummer Patrick Ferguson, was recently committed to tape with the help of David Barbe at Chase Park Transduction. "He's the punch-in master," says Adam. "He can do punches with his feet while he plays a lick. We played a lot of wiffleball, too."
With Thunderbolt, Southern Bitch set out to create the kind of universal record Adam grew up loving.
"There are certain albums you can put on and listen to from beginning to end. Blood Sugar Sex Magik -- that's one, not that we sound like that. Pearl Jam's 10. Neil Young's Harvest. Pretty much any AC/DC or Rolling Stones."
With a sound akin to the Truckers, Jason and the Scorchers and Blue Rodeo's less psychedelic moments, Southern Bitch's Thunderbolt is more electrifying than mere flash and sizzle. - Tony Ware
Discography
Thunderbolt (LP Treblehook Records 2002)
Dandelion (EP 2000)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
There's an old rock and roll legend that before the band's fatal plane crash in 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd had plans to record with "rival" Neil Young. We do know that wily Canadian songwriter had offered the bunch of Jacksonville rowdies a pair of his tunes to record on the album that would've followed Skynyrd's swan song Street Survivors, but fate intervened and the band never got the chance to record the songs. In the world of rock and roll, truth and fiction often get tangled up and promptly ignored in favor of a good yarn, but it's fun to wonder "what if" Young's gnarly tunes had the full-on Southern Rock guitar bombast of Skynyrd's triple attack.
But of course, if you've seen Southern Bitch, you wouldn't have to wonder what such a pairing would sound like. You'd know. The Athens quartet blends Crazy Horse crunch with searing guitar leads and earthy lyrics that, like Ronnie Van Zant's best lines, are country as cornbread without having to wave flags or fight lost causes. Frontman Adam Musick is a triple threat in one shaggy package: a talented lyricist, a flexible guitarist, and an expressive singer. His powerful yet economical guitar leads mesh perfectly with wife Wendy, who also provides the requisite "badass rocker" strut for the band. Muscle Shoals, Alabama native Chuck Bradburn shows his roots with bass lines that delve deep into classic rock and Southern R&B, and drummer Rick Conley thumps out powerhouse beats and solid timing. Between the two, the Musicks have plenty of fire in the engine room, and when Southern Bitch is rolling, there's a sound powerful enough to knock your hat in the creek.
Like a choice few other bands today - Slobberbone, The Bottle Rockets and The Drive By Truckers - Southern Bitch's music is instantly familiar yet refreshingly new. Shades of Southern and folk rock mix in with punk and indie sounds, while Adam's lyric's revel in both his mountain upbringing and the changing times he, like the rest of us, finds the world going through. The band's debut Thunderbolt is a powerful statement from a young band; the title is apt, as the music is loud, proud and thunderous.
Southern Bitch plays straightforward, no bullshit rock and roll with a Southern twist. Call it "new Southern Rock" or call it what Adam calls it, "gritty mountain rock." Either way, it's stories of hunting with your granddad, the girl you walked away from giving you a shot of your own medicine and the occasional snakey instrumental. Southern Bitch is something we all know, one way or another, and something all of us can relate to at one point in our respective lives.
Sometimes, rock and roll myths do come true.
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