BR549
BR549 (originally spelled BR5-49) was an American country music band. Founded in 1993, the band originally comprised Gary Bennett (lead and background vocals, acoustic guitar), Don Herron (steel guitar, Dobro, fiddle, mandolin, acoustic guitar), "Smilin'" Jay McDowell (upright bass), Chuck Mead (lead and background vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar), and "Hawk" Shaw Wilson (drums, background vocals). Bennett and McDowell left the band in 2001, with Chris Scruggs and Geoff Firebaugh respectively replacing them. Both Firebaugh and Scruggs later left the band as well; Mark Miller has become the band's third bassist.
BR549 has released six albums and two EPs, including three albums on Arista Nashville and two on Dualtone Records. The band's self-titled debut album produced three singles on the Billboard country charts in 1996. The band was nominated three times for the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
History
Before moving to Nashville and forming BR5-49, Chuck Mead played in a band called Homestead Grays, a roots-rock outfit based in his hometown of Lawrence, Kansas. Gary Bennett, meanwhile fronted an informal band that played at Robert's Western Wear, a clothing store in Nashville, Tennessee, when he met Mead at a nearby bar. The two then decided to form a band officially, and completing the lineup were electric bassist Jim "Bones" Becker, then upright bassist "Smilin'" Jay McDowell (formerly of another band called Hellbilly), multi-instrumentalist Don Herron, and drummer "Hawk" Shaw Wilson. They assumed the name BR5-49 (from the telephone number of a used car dealer in a running Junior Samples comedy sketch on the television series Hee Haw), and began playing for tips at Robert's before being discovered by Arista Nashville in 1995.
BR5-49 (album)
BR5-49 is the self-titled debut album of the American country music band BR5-49. The album was released in 1996 (see 1996 in country music) on the Arista Nashville label. Three singles were released from the album, all of which charted on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. "Cherokee Boogie", the first of these three, was the highest charting, reaching #44. Following it were "Even If It's Wrong" at #68 and "Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts)" at #61.
The contains four covers: The aforementioned "Cherokee Boogie" was originally recorded by Moon Mullican, "I Ain't Never" and "Honky Tonk Song" were previously recorded by Mel Tillis, and the former was previously a hit for Webb Pierce as well. Also, "Crazy Arms" is a cover of a Ray Price song.
Track listing
Podcasts:
BR5-49
ALBUMS
- More From Robert's released: 2013
- Dog Days released: 2006
- Tangled in the Pines released: 2004
- The Best of BR5-49: It Ain't Bad for Work If Ya Gotta Have a Job released: 2002
- This Is BR5-49 released: 2001
- Coast to Coast released: 2000
- Big Backyard Beat Show released: 1998
- BR5-49 released: 1996
- Live From Robert's released: 1996
More From Robert's
Released 2013- In the Jailhouse Now
- How Come It
- Luther Played the Boogie
- White Lighning
- Sea of Heartbreak
- One Woman Man
- Mr. Moonlight
- Lend Me Your Comb
- Are You Gettin' Tired of Me
- Right String Baby, but the Wrong Yo-Yo
- Mama Tried
- Skinny Jim
- Memories Are Made of This
- Yonder Comes a Sucker
- Hey Joe
- Act Naturally
- Little Ramona
- If You Ain't Lovin'
- There Stands the Glass
- Roly Poly
- Dixie Fried
- Take Me Back to Tulsa
- Cherokee Boogie
The Best of BR5-49: It Ain't Bad for Work If Ya Gotta Have a Job
Released 2002- Cherokee Boogie
- Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts)
- Even If It's Wrong
- Lifetime to Prove
- Honky Tonk Song
- Hickory Wind
- Out of Habit
- You Are Never Nice to Me
- My Name Is Mudd
- Georgia on a Fast Train
- A House of Gold
- You're a Hum-Dinger
- 18 Wheels and a Crowbar
- Seven Nights to Rock
- Bettie Plug-Bettie Bettie
- Me'n'Opie (Down by the Duck Pond)
- Uneasy Rider
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Bottom Of Priority
by: Br549Well, the boys came lookin' for their soul
They wanted all the world to see
So they took Alcatraz and did a graveyard dance
All they wanted was some dignity
But from a rerun story from a late, late show
Where the Indian gets no amnesty
And spends the rest of his life in a Kansas cell
At the bottom of priority
High and dry, left to take another's blame
High and dry, first hand knowledge of an innocent man
You can hear him cryin' down in ol' K City
Hear him up at Wounded Knee
For the rest of his life in a Kansas cell
At the bottom of priority
Well, locked up, forgotten, tucked outta the way
And treated like he wasn't a man
They took their aim and wasn't it a shame
How we stuck our head into the sand
Well, it was way too late for the government
They had to make somebody plea
And spend the rest of his life in Kansas cell
At the bottom of priority
High and dry, left to take another's blame
High and dry, first hand knowledge of an innocent man
You can hear him cryin' down in ol' K City
Hear him up at Wounded Knee
For the rest of his life in a Kansas cell
At the bottom of priority
For the rest of his life in a Kansas cell