500 Miles to Memphis: I never knew Country Punk was a Genre

…until I heard 500 Miles to Memphis.

A good friend of mine David Rhodes Brown who used to be with a group called “The Catalog Cowboys” and has been a mainstay on the Rock music scene for what seems to be eternity…(sorry David…but you are older than me) told me he was playing with a “new” band and that I should come out to see them.

Suffice it to say I don’t really need any reason to go see great local music. So that Friday night I made my way to The Rhythm and Blues Cafe to see what David described as the best bunch of young musicians he ever seen and worked with.

The front man for the group wasn’t David (which I thought it would be) but a young kid named Ryan Malott…David played keyboards and lap steel. I was mesmerized by what was coming out of the Amps.

I never really heard anything like it. After the first set I introduced myself and asked Ryan what exactly was the music he was playing, he said with out missing a beat…”hell, it’s Country Punk!”. I almost shit myself laughing because I’ve heard of every genre of music but Country Punk was a first.

I lived in the Over the Rhine section of Cincinnati, so it was easy to get to most of the gigs they played. I could walk there and not worry about driving. I love turning people on the them because it is a sound that no one has ever heard before and always leaves you with wanting more.

Watch this video of 500 Miles To Memphis and tell me what you think.