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The Return of Honky Tonk Heavyweights BR549
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In the mid-1990s, the honky tonk quintet BR549 emerged from Nashville's then-seedy Lower Broadway neighborhood to scale the heights of country music success. The band performed with Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Bob Dylan and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2000.
But the group lost two founding members to the rigors of touring in 2001 and was then dropped from two record labels. It flew below music industry radar for several years.
Front man Chuck Mead and drummer Shaw Wilson tell NPR's Scott Simon how BR549 re-grouped and set out to record and tour again.
The musicians also reveal the not-so-secret source of the band's name: it was the phone number for Junior Sample's used car lot on the television show Hee Haw.
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But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.
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